BUFFON, GEORGES-LOUIS LECLERC, comte de. - Great French naturalist, b. at Montbard (Burgundy) on 7 Sept. 1707, and d. at Paris on 16 Apr. 1788.
He began his training in mathematics, but, having inherited a vast fortune, devoted himself to problems concerning forests, mineralogy, and metallurgy. Through these studies, at the age of 26, he entered the Academy of Sciences. He was appointed intendant of the Jardin de Plantes in Paris in 1739 and held this office until his death. He expanded this institution in every branch of Natural History and made of it a scientific organization which is still today a glory of France.
His publications are famous: in 1749 he began publication of the Histoire Naturelle générale et particulière; in 1749 he undertook the work Histoire de la Terre and subsequently published Histoire des animaux and Histoire de l'homme. Other books are: Époques de la nature (1778), Histoire des quadrupèdes (1750-76), Histoire des oiseaux, Histoire des minéraux (1783-88).
His works reveal his unitary conception of nature. According to B., all organisms are formed, like crystals, from innumerable invariable organic molecules. He held that species could evolve and be modified through the influence of the environment, geographical distribution, and the struggle for existence. An independent spirit, neither philosopher nor anti-philosopher, but only a learned man and scholar, he does not attack religion; indeed, he is full of admiration for the Creator of so many beings, but especially for man, the “favoured creature.”