Histoire naturelle

The Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du Cabinet du Roi (French: [istwaʁ natyʁɛl]; English: Natural History, General and Particular, with a Description of the King's Cabinet) is an encyclopaedic collection of 36 large (quarto) volumes written between 1749 and 1804, initially by the Comte de Buffon, and continued in eight more volumes after his death (in 1788) by his colleagues, led by Bernard Germain de Lacépède. The books cover what was known of the "natural sciences" at the time, including what would now be called material science, physics, chemistry and technology as well as the natural history of animals. The early volumes (IV to XV) are on quadrupeds. The next group (XVI to XXIV) are on birds, followed by a group on minerals (XXV to XXIX). There followed a group of supplements on geology and related subjects, with additional quadrupeds (XXX to XXXVI). Further supplements covered the reptiles (XXXVII to XXXVIII) and fishes (XXXIX to XXXXIII). Finally there was a volume on cetaceans (XXXXIV). The work was republished in various editions in France, and was translated into languages including English, German, Swedish, Italian, and Russian. Buffon was assisted over the years by a variety of authors with different expertise, including Philippe Guéneau de Montbeillard on birds. The principal illustrator was Jacques de Sève, who prepared some 2000 plates for the encyclopedia, while additional plates on birds were made by François-Nicolas Martinet. The Histoire Naturelle was welcomed by its wealthy readership: the first edition sold out within six weeks. However, it attracted criticism from some priests for its assertion that the Earth was over 6,000 years old, contradicting the biblical account. From the 21st-century perspective of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the work has been seen as introducing "a secular and realist account of the origins of the earth and its life forms", contrary to the tradition of Descartes. Others such as the botanist Sandra Knapp have commented on Buffon's purple prose, which tended to obscure any ideas in the text. The evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr called Buffon "the father of all thought in natural history" at his time, setting the scene for evolutionists to address the issues he raised.