The French naturalist Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788), wrote the major general work on natural history of the 18th century and made the Royal Garden in Paris a center for scientific research.

On Sept. 7, 1707, Georges Louis Leclerc was born in Montbard, the son of a magistrate in the local sovereign court of justice (parlement). While information regarding Buffon's early career is scant, it is probable that he graduated from the Jesuit college in Dijon and later received a diploma from the Faculty of Law located in Dijon. He was preparing for his father's calling, a career in the law being the expected activity of one of Buffon's particular noble background; but the law never interested him.

Intellectual Apprenticeship

Buffon's first work in the sciences gave little indication of the future naturalist. Evidently having early set as his goal a career in mathematics, he made a close...