Histoire Naturelle

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Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi
Imprimerie royale
Publication date
1749–1804
Pages36 + 8 volumes

The Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi (French:

material science, physics, chemistry and technology as well as the natural history
of animals.

Histoire Naturelle, an encyclopaedic work

Comte de Buffon
(1707–1788) made the Histoire Naturelle his life's work.

The Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi is the work that the

comparative anatomist. "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."[2]

The Histoire Naturelle, which was meant to address the whole of natural history, actually covers only

quadrupeds
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 assisted Buffon on the quadrupeds; Philippe Guéneau de Montbeillard worked on the birds. They were joined, from 1767, by Barthélemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, 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.

Lynx in Volume IX, by Jacques de Sève

Buffon attached much importance to the illustrations;

mythological
settings.

On minerals, Buffon collaborated with

Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau
provided sources for the mineral volumes.

L’Histoire Naturelle met immense success, almost as great as

Diderot, 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.[3]

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

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),

Louis-Bernard Guyton-Morveau (1737–1816), Bernard Germain de Lacépède (1756–1825), François-Nicolas Martinet (1731–1800), the anatomist Jean-Claude Mertrud [fr] (1728–1802), Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751–1812), and André Thouin
(1747–1823).

  • 1774 edition of volume 1 of "Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière"
  • Frontispiece of 1774 edition of volume 1 of "Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière"
  • Table of contents for a 1774 edition of volume 1 of "Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière"

Approach

Spread of quarto pages, with decorative tail-piece illustration (1779)

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 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.[4] The language, as in this instance, is elegant and elaborate, even "flowery and ornate".[5] Buffon was roundly criticised by his fellow academics for writing a "purely popularizing work, empty and puffed up, with little real scientific value".[5]

The species is named in Greek, Latin, Italian, Spanish, German, English, Swedish, and Polish. The zoological descriptions of the species by Gessner, Ray, Linnaeus, 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.[6] Measurements may be included; in the case of the wolf, 41 separate measurements are tabulated, in pre-revolutionary French feet and inches[a] 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).[7]

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

Bernard Germain de Lacépède (1756–1825) continued the Histoire Naturelle after Buffon's death.

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, in 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. Between 1798 and 1803, he brought out the volume Histoire des Poissons. Lacépède made use of the notes and collections left by Philibert Commerson (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.[8]

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.

Volumes 1-12 of a 1774 edition of "Supplement to Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière."

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, cousin and brother-in-law of Buffon's principal collaborator.[9]

Translations

The Histoire Naturelle was translated into languages including English,[10] German,[11] Swedish,[12] Russian[13] and Italian.[14] 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 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.[10] W. Strahan and T. Cadell published a translation with notes by the encyclopaedist William Smellie in London around 1785.[15] Barr's Buffon in ten volumes was published in London between 1797 and 1807.[16] 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.[17]

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 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

St. Petersburg
between 1789 and 1808.

  • 1792 English translation of "Buffon’s Natural History" (volume 1)
  • Title page of 1792 English translation of "Buffon’s Natural History" (volume 1)
  • Table of contents page of a 1792 English translation of "Buffon’s Natural History" (volume 1)
  • 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 in London and Scribner, Welford and Co. c. 1870.[10]

Contents by volume

Stag from Quadrupèdes

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)

Blue-naped mousebird

Histoire Naturelle des Minéraux (Minerals) (1783–1788)

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)

The Gecko, 1788
  • 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)

Histoire Naturelle des Cétacés (Cetaceans) (1804)

Reception

Contemporary

Indian rhinoceros (1767)

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.

pistils in a flower, mere counting (despite Buffon's own training in mathematics) had no bearing on nature.[19]

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 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 celebrated with the words "This time, the Comte de Buffon is dead and buried". Soon afterwards, the French Revolution went much further in sweeping away old attitudes to natural history, along with much else.[5]

Modern

Newborn hippopotamus (1767)

Philosophy

The

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".[20] Buffon also led natural history away from the natural theology of British parson-naturalists such as John Ray. He thus offered both a new methodology and an empirical style of enquiry.[20] Buffon's position on evolution is complex; he noted in Volume 4 from Daubenton's comparative anatomy of the horse and the donkey that species might "transform", but initially (1753) rejected the possibility. However, in doing so he changed the definition of a species 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.[20]

Style

The botanist Sandra Knapp writes that "Buffon's prose was so

romantic novel than a dry scientific treatise".[5]

Evolutionary thought

The evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr 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".[21] Mayr argued that "virtually all the well-known writers of the Enlightenment"[21] were "Buffonians", and calls Buffon "the father of all thought in natural history in the second half of the eighteenth century".[21]

Mayr notes that Buffon was not an "evolutionist", but was certainly responsible for creating the great amount of interest in natural history in France.

fossil record).[21]

Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Illustrations de Histoire naturelle du Roy.
  1. The pre-revolutionary units of measurement pieds (feet) and pouces (inches)
    were slightly (1.066×) larger than the equivalent British feet and inches.

References

  1. ^ Buffon, "Nomenclature des Singes ", in Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi, Tome Quatorzième ("Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes" XI), Imprimerie royale, Paris, 1766.
  2. ^ Buffon, "L'Unau et l'Aï", in Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi, Tome Treizième ("Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupèdes" X), Imprimerie royale, Paris, 1765.
  3. ISBN 2-213-02265-8
  4. ^ Le Loup Volume VII. p. 39
  5. ^
    Knapp, Sandra
    . Huxley, Robert (ed.). The Great Naturalists. Thames and Hudson. pp. 140–148.
  6. ^ Le Loup Volume VII. p. 48
  7. ^ Le Loup Volume VII. pp. 57–58
  8. ISBN 2-88074-264-1
  9. Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu
    , Sixième Notice historique sur le Muséum, Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Tome Onzième, Tourneisen Fils libraire, Paris, 1808, p.1-39.
  10. ^ a b c "Natural History: Buffon". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  11. ^ Buffon. "Histoire Naturelle". WorldCat. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  12. ^ Buffon. "Naturalhistoria". Worldcat. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  13. OCLC 80253027
    .
  14. OCLC 637863895
    .
  15. ^ Smellie, William. Natural History, General and Particular, by the Count de Buffon. Vol. 2. W. Strahan and T. Cadell. Retrieved 26 December 2014. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  16. ^ Buffon (1807). Barr's Buffon. Buffon's Natural History. Vol. 5. Barr. Retrieved 26 December 2014. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  17. ^ Buffon (1814). "The System of Natural History written by M. de Buffon, Carefully Abridged". Biodiversity Heritage Library. W. Davison. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  18. ^ McQueen, Rod. "Rocks of Ages". Dawn to Dusk. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  19. ^ Frängsmyr, Tore; Heilbron, J.L.; Rider, Robin E. (1990). "The Broken Circle. The Challenge of Plenitude". The Quantifying Spirit in the 18th Century. University of California Press. pp. 60–61. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  20. ^ a b c d "The Concept of Evolution to 1872". 3 June 2014 [2005]. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  21. ^
    ISBN 9780674364462
    .
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