published several detached parts of his system in the Journal dfs Savants for the months of June, October, and December 1777, and of February 1781. These he afterwards collected and published, first in Lalande s Astronomy, and then in a separate volume in 4to. 1781, under the title of Memoire sur VOrigine des Constellations et sur I Explication de la Fable par I Astronomic. The theory propounded in this memoir was refuted by Bailly, in the fifth volume of his History of Astronomy, but, at the same time, with a just acknowledgment of the erudition and ingenuity exhibited by the author. Condorcet proposed Dupuis to Frederick the Great of Prussia as a fit person to succeed Thiebault in the professorship of literature at Berlin ; and Dupuis had accepted the invitation, when the death of the king put an end to the engagement. The chair of humanity in the college of France having at the same time become vacant by the death of Bejot, it was conferred on Dupuis ; and in 1788 he became a member of the Academy of Inscrip tions. He now resigned his professorship at Lisieux, and was appointed by the administrators of the department of Paris one of the four commissioners of public instruction. At the commencement of the Evolutionary troubles Dupuis sought an asylum at Evreux ; and, having been chosen a member of the National Convention by the department of Seine-et-Oise, he distinguished himself by the modera tion of his speeches and public conduct. In the third year of the republic he was elected secretary to the Assembly, and in the fourth he was chosen a member of the Council of Five Hundred. After the memorable 18th Brumaire he was elected by the department of Seine-et-Oise a member of the legislative body, of which he became the president. He had been proposed as a candidate for the senate when he resolved to abandon politics, devoting himself during the rest of his life to his favourite studies. He died
September 29, 1809.
In 1794 he published the work by which he is best known, entitled Origins de tons les Guiles, on la Religion Unirerselle (3 vols. 4to. with an atlas, or 12 vols. 12mo. ) Though its circulation was small, it became the subject of much bitter controversy, and the theoiy it propounded as to the origin of mythology in Upper Egypt led to the expedition organized by Napoleon for the explor ation of that country. In 1798 Dupuis published an abridgment of his work in one volume 8vo, which met with no better success than the original. Another abridgment of the same work, executed upon a much more methodical plan, was published by M. de Tracy. The other works of Dupuis consist of two memoirs on the Felasgi, inserted in the Memoirs of the Institute; a memoir " On the Zodiac of Tentyra," published in the Jievue Philosophique for May 1806; and a Memoire Explicatif du Zodiaquf, Cfironologique et Mythologique published the same year, in one volume 4to. M. Dacier, secretary to the third class of the Institute, delivered his eloge ; and an historical account of his life and writings was published by his widow.
DUPUYTREN, Guillaume, Baron (1777–1835), one of the most distinguished of French anatomists and surgeons, was born October 6, 1777, at Pierre Buffiere, a small town of Limousin. He was sprung from poor parents, and was furnished with the means of receiving an ordinary education at the College de la Marche by seme charitable persons to whom he had been introduced. At the newly established Ecole de MeYlecine, under Fourcroy, he began the study of medicine with great diligence, and was appointed by com petition prosector of the faculty when only eighteen years of age. His early studies were directed chiefly to morbid anatomy, which he did much to establish on a scientific basis, though many of his theories were unsound. In 1803 he was appointed assistant-surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu ; and he was appointed professor of operative surgery in succession to Sabbatier in 1811. In 1815 he was appointed to the chair of clinical surgery, and three years later he became he; id surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu. Many other offices were conferred upon him ; he became inspector of the university, a chevalier and afterwards an officer in the Legion of Honour, chevalier of St Michel, baron, member of the Institute, and first surgeon to the king. Dupuytren s energy and industry were alike remarkable. He visited the Hotel-Dieu morning and evening, performing at each time several operations, lectured to vast throngs of students, gave advice to his out-door patients, and fulfilled the duties consequent upon one of the largest practices of modern times. By his indefatigable activity he amassed a fortune of /300,000, the bulk of which he bequeathed to his daughter, with the deduction of considerable sums for the endowment of the anatomical chair in the Ecole de Medecine, and the establishment of a benevolent institution for dis tressed medical men. The most important of Dupuytren s writings is his Treatise on Artificial Amis, in which the principles laid down by John Hunter are happily applied. In his operations he was remarkable for the skill and dexterity with which he overcame the niimerous difficulties incidental to so extensive a practice as he enjoyed. He had complete control over his feelings, and great readiness of resource. Instead of attempting to introduce new methods of procedure, he commonly limited himself to modifying and adapting to his particular exigencies tho established laws of surgery. He was thus led to invent several new surgical instruments. In private life Dupuytren was cold and reserved ; and this was perhaps increased by his constant struggle against a consumptive tendency, which ultimately carried him off, 8th February 1835. In November 1833 he had suffered a slight shock of apoplexy, but he continued in practice almost until the day of his death.
of the most distinguished naval officers in the history of France, was born at Dieppe in 1610. Born in a stirring seaport, the son of a distinguished naval officer, he naturally adopted the profession of a sailor. He spent his youth in the merchant service, and obtained his first distinction in naval warfare by the capture of the island of Lerins from the Spaniards in May 1637. About the same time his father was killed in an engagement with the Spaniards, and the news raised his hatred of the national enemy to the pitch of a personal and bitter animosity. For the next five years he sought every opportunity of inflicting defeat and humiliation on the Spanish navy, and he distinguished him self by his bravery in the engagement at Gattari (1638), the expedition to Corufia (1639), and in battles at Tarragona (1641), Barcelona (1643), and the Cape de Gata. The French navy being left unemployed during the minority of Louis XIV., Duquesne obtained leave to offer his services to the king of Sweden, who gave him a commission as vice- admiral in 1643. In this capacity he defeated the Danish fleet near Gottenburg and thus raised the siege of the city. The Danes returned to the struggle with increased forces under the command of King Christiern in person, but they were again defeated, their admiral being killed and his ship taken. Peace having been concluded between Sweden and Denmark in 1645, Duquesne returned to France. The revolt at Bordeaux, supported as it was by material aid from Spain, gave him the opportunity of at once serving his country and gratifying his long cherished hatred of the Spaniards. In 1650 he fitted out at his own expense a squadron with which he blockaded the mouth of the Gironde, and compelled the city to surrender. For this service he was promoted in rank, and received a gift of the castle and isle of Indre, near Nantes. Peace with Spain was concluded in 1659, and for some years afterwards Duquesne was occupied in endeavours to suppress piracy in the Mediterranean. On the revolt of Messina from Holland, he was sent to support the insurgents, and had to encounter the united fleets of Spain and Holland
under the command of the celebrated Admiral De Ruyter.