Text prepared, introduced and annotated by Stéphane Schmitt with the collaboration of Cédric Crémière
To other volumes
The complete works of Buffon are practically confused with his monumental undertaking,
Histoire Naturelle, of which the thirty-six volumes appeared from 1749 to 1789. This work, often repeated until the end of the nineteenth century, was no longer since then. We therefore propose for the first time the entirety of this text in a form that corresponds to the current criteria of scientific publishing. In this first volume, Buffon, in a very rich discourse on the manner of studying and treating natural history, sets forth the new method which he proposes to follow, and applies it to the case of the theory of Earth, that is to say, geological questions, and the formation of planets.
Stéphane Schmitt is director of research at CNRS (SPHERE, UMR 7219, Paris). His research focuses on the history of the life sciences of the eighteenth to the twentieth century, particularly on the development of anatomy and embryology in connection with the development of theories of evolution.
Cédric Crémière, heritage curator and director of the Museum of Natural History of Le Havre, is particularly interested in the history of anatomy and collections.
: : Champion
: : Serie "Age des Lumières", n°0041
: : 1376 pages
: : 2007, Paris
: : ISBN 9782745316011