xt-book of
Zooelogy_ (1878).

CHAPTER XIII

THE EVOLUTIONARY VIEWS OF BUFFON AND OF GEOFFROY ST. HILAIRE

Of the French precursors of Lamarck there were four--Duret (1609), De
Maillet (1748), Robinet (1768), and Buffon. The opinions of the first
three could hardly be taken seriously, as they were crude and fantastic,
though involving the idea of descent. The suggestions and hypotheses of
Buffon and of Erasmus Darwin were of quite a different order, and
deserve careful consideration.

[Illustration: MAISON DE BUFFON, IN WHICH LAMARCK LIVED, 1793-1829]

George Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, was born in 1707 at Montbard,
Burgundy, in the same year as Linne. He died at Paris in 1788, at the
age of eighty-one years. He inherited a large property from his father,
who was a councillor of the parliament of Burgundy. He studied at Dijon,
and travelled abroad. Buffon was rich, but, greatly to his credit,
devoted all his life to the care of the Royal Garden and to writing his
works, being a most prolific author. He was not an observer, not even a
closet naturalist. "I have passed," he is reported to have said, "fifty
years at my desk." Appointed in 1739, when he was thirty-two years old,
Intendant of the Royal Garden, he divided his time between his retreat
at Montbard and Paris, spending four months in Paris and the remainder
of the year at Montbard, away from the distractions and dissipations of
the capital. It is significant that he wrote his great _Histoire
naturelle_ at Montbard and not at Paris, where were the collections of
natural history.

His biographer, Flourens, says: "What dominates in the character of
Buffon is elevation, force, the love of greatness and glory; he loved
magnificence in everything. His fine figure, his majestic air, seemed to
have some relation with the greatness of his genius; and nature had
refused him none of those qualities which could attract the attention of
mankind.

"Nothing is better known than the _naivete_ of his self-esteem; he
admired himself with perfect honesty, frankly, but good-naturedly."

He was once asked how many great men he could really mention; he
answered: "Five--Newton, Bacon, Leibnitz, Montesquieu, and myself." His
admirable style gained him immediate reputation and glory throughout the
world of letters. His famous epigram, "_Le style est l'homme meme_" is
familiar to every one. That his moral courage was scarcely of a high
order is proved by his little af