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The ''Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi'' (; en, Natural History, General and Particular, with a Description of the King's Cabinet, italic=yes) is an encyclopaedic collection of 36 large (quarto) volumes written between 1749–1804, initially by the
Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent F ...
, and continued in eight more volumes after his death by his colleagues, led by
Bernard Germain de Lacépède Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (; 26 December 17566 October 1825) was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's great work, the ...
. The books cover what was known of the "natural sciences" at the time, including what would now be called material science,
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
,
chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and
technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
as well as the natural history of animals.


''Histoire Naturelle'', an encyclopaedic work

The ''Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi'' is the work that the
Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent F ...
(1707–1788) is remembered for. He worked on it for some 50 years, initially at
Montbard Montbard () is a commune and subprefecture of the Côte-d'Or department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Montbard is a small industrial town on the river Brenne. The ''Forges de Buffon'', ironworks established by Buff ...
in his office in the Tour Saint-Louis, then in his library at Petit Fontenet. 36 volumes came out between 1749 and 1789, followed by 8 more after his death, thanks to
Bernard Germain de Lacépède Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (; 26 December 17566 October 1825) was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's great work, the ...
. It includes all the knowledge available in his time on the "natural sciences", a broad term that includes disciplines which today would be called material science, physics, chemistry and technology. Buffon notes the morphological similarities between men and apes, although he considered apes completely devoid of the ability to think, differentiating them sharply from human beings. Buffon's attention to internal anatomy made him an early
comparative anatomist Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...
. "L’intérieur, dans les êtres vivants, est le fond du dessin de la nature", he wrote in his ''Quadrupèdes,'' "the interior, in living things, is the foundation of nature's design." The ''Histoire Naturelle'', which was meant to address the whole of natural history, actually covers only
minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...
,
birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
, and the
quadrupeds Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion where four limbs are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four limbs is said to be a quadruped (from Latin ''quattuor' ...
among animals. It is accompanied by some discourses and a theory of the earth by way of introduction, and by supplements including an elegantly written account of the epochs of nature. The ''Suppléments'' cover a wide range of topics; for example, in (Suppléments IV), there is a ''Discours sur le style'' (Discourse on Style) and an ''Essai d'arithmétique morale'' (essay on Moral Arithmetic).
Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (29 May 1716 – 1 January 1800) was a French naturalist and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers''. Biography Daubenton was born at Montbard, Côte-d' ...
assisted Buffon on the quadrupeds; Philippe Guéneau de Montbeillard worked on the birds. They were joined, from 1767, by
Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (17 May 174118 July 1819) was a French geologist, volcanologist and traveller. Life He was born at Montélimar. He was educated at the Jesuit's College at Lyon and afterwards at Grenoble where he studied law and ...
, the abbot Gabriel Bexon and Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt. The whole descriptive and anatomical part of ''l’Histoire des Quadrupèdes'' was the work of Daubenton and Jean-Claude Mertrud. Buffon attached much importance to the illustrations;
Jacques de Sève Jacques de Sève ( fl. 1742 – 1788) was a French illustrator. Career De Sève was commissioned by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon to provide the quadruped illustrations for '' Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière'' (1749-1778 ...
illustrated the quadrupeds and
François-Nicolas Martinet François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - 1800) was a French engineer, engraver and naturalist. Martinet engraved the plates for numerous works on natural history, especially ornithology. Notable in particular are those for ''l'Ornithologia, sive Synop ...
illustrated the birds. Nearly 2000 plates adorn the work, representing animals with care given both to
aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...
and
anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
accuracy, with dreamlike and
mythological Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
settings. On minerals, Buffon collaborated with
André Thouin André Thouin (10 February 1747 – 24 October 1824) was a French botanist. Thouin studied botany under Bernard de Jussieu, and in 1793 attained the chair of horticulture at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. He was a good ...
.
Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (17 May 174118 July 1819) was a French geologist, volcanologist and traveller. Life He was born at Montélimar. He was educated at the Jesuit's College at Lyon and afterwards at Grenoble where he studied law and ...
and Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau provided sources for the mineral volumes. L’''Histoire Naturelle'' met immense success, almost as great as ''
Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...
'' by
Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...
, which came out in the same period. The first three volumes of ''L’Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du cabinet du Roi'' were reprinted three times in six weeks. The encyclopaedia appeared in 36 volumes : * 3 volumes in 1749 : ''De la manière d’étudier l’histoire naturelle'' followed by ''Théorie de la Terre'', ''Histoire Générale des animaux'' and ''Histoire Naturelle de l’homme'' * 12 volumes on quadrupeds (1753 to 1767) * 9 volumes on birds (1770 to 1783]) * 5 volumes on minerals (1783 to 1788), the last including ''Traité de l’aimant'', the last work published by Buffon in his lifetime * 7 volumes of supplements (1774 to 1789), including ''Époques de la nature'' (from 1778). ''L’Histoire Naturelle'' was initially printed at the Imprimerie nationale, Imprimerie royale in 36 volumes (1749–1789). In 1764 Buffon bought back the rights to his work. It was continued by
Bernard Germain de Lacépède Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (; 26 December 17566 October 1825) was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's great work, the ...
, who described the egg-laying quadrupeds,
snakes Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more joi ...
,
fishes Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...
and cetaceans in 8 volumes (1788–1804). Buffon was assisted in the work by Jacques-François Artur (1708–1779), Gabriel Léopold Charles Amé Bexon (1748–1785), Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716–1799),
Edme-Louis Daubenton Edme-Louis Daubenton (12 August 1730 – 12 December 1785) was a French naturalist. Daubenton was the cousin of another French naturalist, Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton. Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon engaged Edme-Louis Daubenton to su ...
(1732–1786),
Jacques de Sève Jacques de Sève ( fl. 1742 – 1788) was a French illustrator. Career De Sève was commissioned by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon to provide the quadruped illustrations for '' Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière'' (1749-1778 ...
( actif 1742–1788),
Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond (17 May 174118 July 1819) was a French geologist, volcanologist and traveller. Life He was born at Montélimar. He was educated at the Jesuit's College at Lyon and afterwards at Grenoble where he studied law and ...
(1741–1819), Philippe Guéneau de Montbeillard (1720–1785), Louis-Bernard Guyton-Morveau (1737–1816), Bernard Germain de Lacépède (1756–1825),
François-Nicolas Martinet François-Nicolas Martinet (1731 - 1800) was a French engineer, engraver and naturalist. Martinet engraved the plates for numerous works on natural history, especially ornithology. Notable in particular are those for ''l'Ornithologia, sive Synop ...
(1731–1800), the anatomist (1728–1802), Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751–1812), and
André Thouin André Thouin (10 February 1747 – 24 October 1824) was a French botanist. Thouin studied botany under Bernard de Jussieu, and in 1793 attained the chair of horticulture at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. He was a good ...
(1747–1823). File:Buffon-2.jpg, alt=, 1774 edition of volume 1 of "Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière" File:Buffon-1-2.jpg, alt=, Frontispiece of 1774 edition of volume 1 of "Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière" File:Buffon-1-3.jpg, alt=, Table of contents for a 1774 edition of volume 1 of "Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière"


Approach

Each group is introduced with a general essay. This is followed by an article, sometimes of many pages, on each animal (or other item). The article on the
wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...
begins with the claim that it is one of the animals with a specially strong appetite for flesh; it asserts that the animal is naturally coarse and cowardly (''grossier et poltron''), but becoming crafty at need, and hardy by necessity, driven by hunger. The language, as in this instance, is elegant and elaborate, even "flowery and ornate". Buffon was roundly criticised by his fellow academics for writing a "purely popularizing work, empty and puffed up, with little real scientific value". The species is named in Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, German, English, Swedish, and Polish. The zoological descriptions of the species by Gessner, Ray,
Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
, Klein and Buffon himself ("''Canis ex griseo flavescens. Lupus vulgaris''. Buffon. ''Reg. animal. pag. 235''") are cited. The text is written as a continuous essay, without the sections on identification, distribution and behaviour that might have been expected from other natural histories. Parts concern human responses rather than the animal itself, as for example that the wolf likes human flesh, and the strongest wolves sometimes eat nothing else. Measurements may be included; in the case of the wolf, 41 separate measurements are tabulated, in pre-revolutionary French feet and inches starting with the "Length of the whole body measured in a straight line from the end of the muzzle to the anus........3 feet. 7 inches." (1.2 m); the "Length of the largest claws" is given as "10 lines" (2.2 cm). The wolf is illustrated standing in farmland, and as a complete skeleton standing on a stone plinth in a landscape. The account of the species occupies 32 pages including illustrations.


Editions


Buffon's original edition continued by Lacépède

The original edition of the ''Histoire Naturelle'' by Buffon comprised 36 volumes in quarto, divided into the following series: Histoire de la Terre et de l'Homme, Quadrupèdes, Oiseaux, Minéraux, Suppléments. Buffon edited 35 volumes in his lifetime. Soon after his death, the fifth and final volume of ''l’Histoire des minéraux'' appeared in 1788 at the ''Imprimerie des Bâtiments du Roi''. The seventh and final volume of ''Suppléments'' by Buffon was published posthumously in 1789 through Lacépède's hands. Lacépède continued the part of the ''Histoire Naturelle'' which dealt with animals. A few months before Buffon's death, en 1788, Lacépède published, as a continuation, the first volume of his ''Histoire des Reptiles'', on egg-laying quadrupeds. The next year, he wrote a second volume on snakes, published during the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
. Between 1798 and 1803, he brought out the volume ''Histoire des Poissons''. Lacépède made use of the notes and collections left by
Philibert Commerson Philibert Commerson (; 18 November 1727 – 14 March 1773), sometimes spelled Commerçon by contemporaries, was a French naturalist, best known for accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on his voyage of circumnavigation in 1766–1769. ...
(1727–1773). He wrote ''Histoire des Cétacés'' which was printed in 1804. At that point, the ''Histoire Naturelle'', by Buffon and Lacépède, thus contained 44 quarto volumes forming the definitive edition.Hendrik Cornelius Dirk De Wit, ''Histoire du Développement de la Biologie'', Volume III, Presses Polytechniques et Universitaires Romandes, Lausanne, 1994, pp. 101–110.


Variations in the editions by Buffon and Lacépède

Another edition in quarto format was printed by the ''Imprimerie royale'' in 36 volumes (1774–1804). It consisted of 28 volumes by Buffon, and 8 volumes by Lacépède. The part containing anatomical articles by Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton was dropped. The supplements were merged into the relevant articles in the main volumes. The ''Imprimerie royale'' also published two editions of the ''Histoire Naturelle'' in duodecimo format (1752–1805), occupying 90 or 71 volumes, depending on whether or not they included the part on anatomy. In this print format, the original work by Buffon occupied 73 volumes with the part on anatomy, or 54 volumes without the part on anatomy. The continuation by Lacépède took up 17 duodecimo volumes. A de luxe edition of ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' (Birds) (1771–1786) was produced by the ''Imprimerie royale'' in 10 folio and quarto volumes, with 1008 engraved and hand-coloured plates, executed under Buffon's personal supervision by
Edme-Louis Daubenton Edme-Louis Daubenton (12 August 1730 – 12 December 1785) was a French naturalist. Daubenton was the cousin of another French naturalist, Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton. Georges-Louis Leclerc, the Comte de Buffon engaged Edme-Louis Daubenton to su ...
, cousin and brother-in-law of Buffon's principal collaborator.


Translations

The ''Histoire Naturelle'' was translated into languages including English, German, Swedish, Russian and Italian. Many translations, often partial (single volumes, or all volumes to a certain date), abridged, reprinted in the same translation by different printers, or with additional text (for example on insects) and new illustrations, were made at the end of the eighteenth century and the start of the nineteenth century, presenting a complicated publication history. Early translations were necessarily only of the earlier volumes. Given the complexity, all catalogue dates other than of single volumes should be taken as approximate. R. Griffith published an early translation of the volume on ''The Horse'' in London in 1762. T. Bell published a translation of the first six volumes in London between 1775 and 1776.
William Creech William Creech FRSE (12 May 1745 – 14 January 1815) was a Scottish publisher, printer, bookseller and politician. For 40 years Creech was the chief publisher in Edinburgh. He published the first Edinburgh edition of Robert Burns' poems, and ...
published an edition in Edinburgh between 1780 and 1785. T. Cadell and W. Davies published another edition in London in 1812. An abridged edition was published by Wogan, Byrne et al. in Dublin in 1791; that same year R. Morison and Son of Perth, J. and J. Fairbairn of Edinburgh and T. Kay and C. Forster of London published their edition. W. Strahan and T. Cadell published a translation with notes by the encyclopaedist William Smellie in London around 1785. ''Barr's Buffon'' in ten volumes was published in London between 1797 and 1807. W. Davidson published an abridged version including the natural history of insects taken from Swammerdam, Brookes, Goldsmith et al., with "elegant engravings on wood"; its four volumes appeared in Alnwick in 1814. German translations include those published by Joseph Georg Trassler 1784–1785; by Pauli, 1772–1829; Grund and Holle, 1750–1775; and Johann Samuel Heinsius, 1756–1782. Italian translations include those published by Fratelle Bassaglia around 1788 and Boringherieri in 1959. Per Olof Gravander translated an 1802–1803 French abridgement into Swedish, publishing it in
Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers in ...
in 1806–1807. A Russian version (The General and Particular Natural History by Count Buffon; "Всеобщая и частная естественная история графа Бюффона") was brought out by The Imperial Academy of Sciences (Императорской Академией Наук) in
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
between 1789 and 1808. File:Buffon-2-1.jpg, alt=, 1792 English translation of ''"Buffon’s Natural History"'' (volume 1) File:Buffon-2-2.jpg, alt=, Title page of 1792 English translation of ''"Buffon’s Natural History"'' (volume 1) File:Buffon-2-3.jpg, alt=, Table of contents page of a 1792 English translation of ''"Buffon’s Natural History"'' (volume 1) File:Buffon-2-4.jpg, alt=, Preface page of a 1792 English translation of ''"Buffon’s Natural History"'' (volume 1)


Children's

An abridged edition for children was published by
Frederick Warne Frederick Warne (13 October 1825 – 17 November 1901) was a British publisher, founder of Frederick Warne & Co. Early life and career Warne was born in Westminster in 1825, sixth and youngest son of the twelve children of Edmund Warne, a builder ...
in London and Scribner, Welford and Co. c. 1870.


Contents by volume

The original edition was arranged as follows: Natural history, and description of the king's cabinet of curiosities
Volume I
: ''Premier Discours - De la manière d’étudier et de traiter l’histoire naturelle'', ''Second Discours - Histoire et théorie de la Terre'', ''Preuves de la théorie de la Terre'', 1749
Volume II
: ''Histoire générale des Animaux'', ''Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme'', 1749
Volume III
: ''Description du cabinet du Roi'', ''Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme'', 1749 ''Quadrupèdes'' (Quadrupeds)
Volume IV
(Quadrupèdes I) : ''Discours sur la nature des Animaux'', ''Les Animaux domestiques'', 1753
Volume V
(Quadrupèdes II) : 1755
Volume VI
(Quadrupèdes III) : ''Les Animaux sauvages'', 1756
Volume VII
(Quadrupèdes IV) : ''Les Animaux carnassiers'', 1758
Volume VIII
(Quadrupèdes V) : 1760
Volume IX
(Quadrupèdes VI) : 1761
Volume X
(Quadrupèdes VII) : 1763
Volume XI
(Quadrupèdes VIII) : 1764
Volume XII
(Quadrupèdes IX) : 1764
Volume XIII
(Quadrupèdes X) : 1765
Volume XIV
(Quadrupèdes XI) : ''Nomenclature des Singes'', ''De la dégénération des Animaux'', 1766
Volume XV
(Quadrupèdes XII) : 1767 ''Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux'' (Birds) (1770–1783)
Volume XVI
(Oiseaux I) : 1770
Volume XVII
(Oiseaux II) : 1771
Volume XVIII
(Oiseaux III) : 1774
Volume XIX
(Oiseaux IV) : 1778
Volume XX
(Oiseaux V) : 1778
Volume XXI
(Oiseaux VI) : 1779
Volume XXII
(Oiseaux VII) : 1780
Volume XXIII
(Oiseaux VIII) : 1781
Volume XXIV
(Oiseaux IX) : 1783 ''Histoire Naturelle des Minéraux'' (Minerals) (1783–1788)
Volume XXV
(Minéraux I) : 1783
Volume XXVI
(Minéraux II) : 1783
Volume XXVII
(Minéraux III) : 1785
Volume XXVIII
(Minéraux IV) : 1786
Volume XXIX
(Minéraux V) : ''Traité de l'Aimant et de ses usages'', 1788 ''Suppléments à l’Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière'' (Supplements) (1774–1789)
Volume XXX
(Suppléments I) : ''Servant de suite à la Théorie de la Terre, et d’introduction à l’Histoire des Minéraux'', 1774
Volume XXXI
(Suppléments II) : ''Servant de suite à la Théorie de la Terre, et de préliminaire à l’Histoire des Végétaux - Parties Expérimentale & Hypothétique'', 1775
Volume XXXII
(Suppléments III) : ''Servant de suite à l'Histoire des Animaux quadrupèdes, 1776
Volume XXXIII
(Suppléments IV) : ''Servant de suite à l'Histoire Naturelle de l'Homme, 1777
Volume XXXIV
(Suppléments V) : ''Des Époques de la nature'', 1779
Volume XXXV
(Suppléments VI) : ''Servant de suite à l'Histoire des Animaux quadrupèdes'', 1782
Volume XXXVI
(Suppléments VII) : ''Servant de suite à l'Histoire des Animaux quadrupèdes'', 1789 ''Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes ovipares et des Serpents'' (Egg-laying Quadrupeds and Snakes) (1788–1789)
Volume XXXVII
(Reptiles I) : ''Histoire générale et particulière des Quadrupèdes ovipares'', 1788
Volume XXXVIII
(Reptiles II) : ''Histoire des Serpents'', 1789 ''Histoire Naturelle des Poissons'' (Fish) (1798–1803)
Volume XXXIX
(Poissons I) : 1798
Volume XXXX
(Poissons II) : 1800
Volume XXXXI
(Poissons III) : 1802
Volume XXXXII
(Poissons IV) : 1802
Volume XXXXIII
(Poissons V) : 1803 ''Histoire Naturelle des Cétacés'' (Cetaceans) (1804)
Volume XXXXIV
(Cétacés) : 1804


Reception


Contemporary

The ''Histoire Naturelle'' had a distinctly mixed reception in the eighteenth century. Wealthy homes in both England and France purchased copies, and the first edition was sold out within six weeks. But Buffon was criticised by some priests for suggesting (in the essay ''Les Epoques de Nature'', Volume XXXIV) that the earth was more than 6,000 years old and that mountains had arisen in geological time. Buffon cites as evidence that fossil sea-shells had been found at the tops of mountains; but the claim was seen as contradicting the biblical account in the
Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning") ...
. Buffon also disagreed with
Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
's system of classifying plants as described in ''Systema Naturae'' (1735). In Buffon's view, expounded in the "Premier Discours" of the ''Histoire Naturelle'' (1749), the concept of species was entirely artificial, the only real entity in nature being the individual; as for a taxonomy based on the number of
stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
s or
pistil Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...
s in a flower, mere counting (despite Buffon's own training in mathematics) had no bearing on nature. The Paris faculty of theology, acting as the official censor, wrote to Buffon with a list of statements in the ''Histoire Naturelle'' that were contradictory to
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
Church teaching. Buffon replied that he believed firmly in the biblical account of creation, and was able to continue printing his book, and remain in position as the leader of the 'old school', complete with his job as director of the royal botanical garden. On Buffon's death, the 19-year-old
Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...
celebrated with the words "This time, the Comte de Buffon is dead and buried". Soon afterwards, the
French revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
went much further in sweeping away old attitudes to natural history, along with much else.


Modern


Philosophy

The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (''SEP'') combines an online encyclopedia of philosophy with peer-reviewed publication of original papers in philosophy, freely accessible to Internet users. It is maintained by Stanford University. Eac ...
calls the ''Histoire Naturelle'' "Buffon's major work", observing that "In addressing the history of the earth, Buffon also broke with the 'counter-factual' tradition of Descartes, and presented a secular and realist account of the origins of the earth and its life forms." In its view, the work created an "age of Buffon", defining what natural history itself was, while Buffon's "Discourse on Method" (unlike that of Descartes) at the start of the work argued that repeated observation could lead to a greater certainty of knowledge even than "mathematical analysis of nature". Buffon also led natural history away from the
natural theology Natural theology, once also termed physico-theology, is a type of theology that seeks to provide arguments for theological topics (such as the existence of a deity) based on reason and the discoveries of science. This distinguishes it from ...
of British
parson-naturalist A parson-naturalist was a cleric (a "parson", strictly defined as a country priest who held the living of a parish, but the term is generally extended to other clergy), who often saw the study of natural science as an extension of his religious wo ...
s such as
John Ray John Ray FRS (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was a Christian English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after ...
. He thus offered both a new methodology and an empirical style of enquiry. Buffon's position on
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
is complex; he noted in Volume 4 from Daubenton's comparative anatomy of the
horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
and the
donkey The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
that species might "transform", but initially (1753) rejected the possibility. However, in doing so he changed the definition of a
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
from a fixed or universal class (which could not change, by definition) to "the historical succession of ancestor and descendant linked by material connection through generation", identified by the ability to mate and produce fertile offspring. Thus the horse and donkey, which produce only sterile hybrids, are seen empirically not to be the same species, even though they have similar anatomy. That empirical fact leaves open the possibility of evolution.


Style

The botanist Sandra Knapp writes that "Buffon's prose was so
purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pu ...
that the ideas themselves are almost hidden", observing that this was also the contemporary academic opinion. She notes that some quite radical ideas are to be found in his work, but they are almost invisible, given the language they are cloaked in. She quotes Buffon's dramatic description of the lion, which along with the engraving in her view "emphasized both the lion's regal bearing and personality not only in his text but also in the illustration... A reader was left in no doubt as to the importance and character of the animal." She concludes "No wonder the cultured
aristocratic Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At the time of the word's ...
public lapped it up – the text reads more like a
romantic novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...
than a dry scientific treatise".


Evolutionary thought

The
evolutionary biologist Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes (natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life for ...
Ernst Mayr Ernst Walter Mayr (; 5 July 1904 – 3 February 2005) was one of the 20th century's leading evolutionary biologists. He was also a renowned Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist, tropical explorer, ornithologist, Philosophy of biology, philosopher o ...
comments that "In this monumental and fascinating ''Histoire naturelle'', Buffon dealt in a stimulating manner with almost all the problems that would subsequently be raised by evolutionists. Written in a brilliant style, this work was read in French or in one of the numerous translations by every educated person in Europe". Mayr argued that "virtually all the well-known writers of the Enlightenment" were "Buffonians", and calls Buffon "the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the eighteenth century". Mayr notes that Buffon was not an "evolutionist", but was certainly responsible for creating the great amount of interest in natural history in France. He agrees that Buffon's thought is hard to classify and even self-contradictory, and that the
theologians Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
forced him to avoid writing some of his opinions openly. Mayr argues however that Buffon was "fully aware of the possibility of 'common descent', and was perhaps the first author ever to articulate it clearly", quoting Buffon at length, starting with "Not only the ass and the horse, but also man, the apes, the quadrupeds, and all the animals might be regarded as constituting but a single family", and later "that man and ape have a common origin", and that "the power of nature...with sufficient time, she has been able from a single being to derive all the other organized beings". Mayr notes, however, that Buffon immediately rejects the suggestion and offers three arguments against it, namely that no new species have arisen in historical times; that hybrid infertility firmly separates species; and that animals intermediate between, say, the horse and the donkey are not seen (in the
fossil record A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...
).


Notes


References

{{Authority control Natural history 1749 books French books French encyclopedias Natural history books 18th-century encyclopedias 19th-century encyclopedias