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Daubenton, LJM

Full Name: Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton

Achievements: Helped reorganize the Paris Royal Botanical Garden as the National Museum of Natural History following the French Revolution

Born: May 29, 1716; Montbard, France

Died: January 1, 1800; Paris, France (Age 73)

Field & Discipline: Science; Natural History; Anatomy; Mineralogy; Animal Husbandry

Language: French

Father: Jean Daubenton

Mother: Marie Pichenot

Spouse: Marguerite Daubenton (first cousin)

Siblings: Not known

Children: None

Education: Jesuit school, Dijon; medical school, Rheims (MD, 1741)

Major Work:

“Natural History, General and Particular” vol. I-XV (with Buffon, 1749-1767)

Life & Times:

While in Paris  Daubenton became interested in medicine and attended anatomy lectures at the royal botanical garden. Following his father's death in 1736, he pursued medical studies in earnest at Rheims and completed his MD in 1741. Daubenton then returned home to practice medicine, but his professional life soon took an unexpected turn due to a fortuitous family connection.

For several generations the Daubenton's had been strongly tied to the Leclercs, another family from Montbard. Georges-Louis Leclerc (better known by his title, Comte de Buffon) was “keeper” of the Jardin du Roi, a post he had held since 1739. So, barely a year after resettling in Montbard, Daubenton was headed back to Paris to assist [assisted] Buffon* at the Jardin du Roi (Royal Botanical Garden).

The Jardin du Roi was more than a botanical garden: its museum (“Cabinet of Natural History”) included extensive collections of herbal, zoological and mineralogical specimens assembled from a variety of sources. In 1745 Daubenton succeeded [succeeded] Bernard de Jussieu*  as the “keeper and demonstrator” of this natural history collection, with responsibility for preserving and classifying the ever-expanding holdings. Daubenton showed a real facility for precise scientific description, prompting Buffon to enlist his aid in the preparation of the first three volumes of  “Natural History, General and Particular” published in 1749.

Buffon proposed grandiose hypotheses concerning the progressive development of the earth and its organic productions, attempting to explain the remarkable diversity of life as the result of simple, law-bound processes operating for long periods of time. Tempering Buffon's wide-ranging speculation, Daubenton provided the rigorous botanical and zoological descriptions. In doing so he steered a middle course between the two great traditions in 18th century natural history: Linnaean classification and Buffonian synthesis.

This arrangement, with Buffon addressing the general issues and Daubenton documenting the particular instances, continued through Volume XV, published in 1767. Perhaps foremost among their joint achievements was a principle known as the “unity of the plan of composition”, which stated that a few basic anatomical “ground plans” are sufficient to describe almost all animals.

Applied to skeletal elements, for instance, this principle could be used to establish a one-to-one correspondence between individual bones in the outwardly dissimilar anatomical structures of two different animal species: “Let one consider, as M. Daubenton has remarked, that the foot of a horse, in appearance so different from the hand of man, is nevertheless composed of the same bones, ... and one may judge if that hidden resemblance is not more marvelous than the apparent differences” (Buffon, quoted by Roger, 1997, p. 294).

In modern terminology, the bones in question were “homologous”. As understood by the naturalists of the mid 18th century, this anatomical relationship did not imply that horses and humans had actually descended from a common ancestor. By the mid 19th century, however, this is exactly how Charles Darwin would interpret the same evidence.

The “unity of the plan of composition” laid the groundwork for the new science of comparative anatomy, later refined by [marriage-related to] Vicq d'Azyr* (Daubenton's student and grandson by marriage) and [inspired] Cuvier* in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Daubenton, however, turned to other pursuits when his collaboration with Buffon ended after 1767. (Buffon had decided to streamline future volumes by eliminating the lengthy anatomical descriptions). 

Although remaining at the Jardin du Roi, Daubenton also accepted positions at the College Royal in 1778 and the veterinary school at Alfort in 1783. In his later life he made notable contributions to mineralogy and encouraged [protege was] Rene-Just Hauy*, his protege, to begin a distinguished career in this field.

Daubenton also pursued the scientific aspects of animal husbandry for more than fifteen years, with a focus on improving the wool yield of sheep through selective breeding and better nutrition.

With Buffon's death in 1788 and the beginning of the French Revolution the following year, the French scientific community experienced a backlash against the Buffon approach to natural history. At the same time Daubenton's reputation was enhanced, ironically, because he had been responsible for most of the rigorous taxonomic descriptions in “Histoire naturelle”. French social reformers also called for an end to the authoritarian administration of the Jardin du Roi, associated for five decades with Buffon's name.

In 1790, the National Assembly requested that the officers of the Jardin du Roi prepare a reorganization plan, and Daubenton was nominated to direct the effort. The Jardin du Roi was formally reorganized in 1793 as the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle (National Museum of Natural History), with administrative responsibilities now shared equally among twelve newly created professorships.

Daubenton was appointed the professor of mineralogy; his colleagues at the Museum included [colleague was] Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire*, the professor of vertebrates,  [colleague was] Lamarck*, the professor of invertebrates; and Jean-Claude Mertrud, the professor of anatomy. (soon replaced by [colleague was] Cuvier*)  Daubenton retained his chair at the Museum until his death in 1800.

Extra Connections:  His work related to that of [work related to] Candolle*

He met [met] Banks* and  [met] Cook*, the famed explorer.

Daubenton wrote articles on natural history for the “Encyclopedie” edited by [wrote articles for] Diderot*.

Assessment: Laid the groundwork for comparative anatomy.

Oneliner: L-J-M Daubenton, major French naturalist

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