Buffon was a member of the French Academy, perpetual treasurer of the Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and member of the Academies of Berlin, St Petersburg, Dijon, and of most of the learned societies then existing in Europe. Of handsome person and noble presence, endowed with many of the external gifts of nature, and rejoicing in the social advantages of high rank and large possessions, he is mainly known by his published scientiiic writings. Without being a profound original investigator, in the modern sense of this term, Buffon possessed considerable power of generalization, along with the art of expressing his ideas in a clear and generally attractive form. His chief defects as a scientific writer are, that he was given to excessive and hasty generaliza tion, so that his hypotheses, however seemingly brilliant, are often destitute of any sufficient basis in observed facts, whilst his literary style .is not unfrequently theatrical and turgid, and a great want of method and order is commonly observable in his writings.
His great work is the Histoire Naturelle, generate et particuliere ; and it can undoubtedly claim the merit of having been the first work to present the previously isolated and apparently disconnected facts of natural history in a popular and generally intelligible form. The sensation which was made by its appear ance in successive parts was very great, and it certainly effected much good in its time by generally diffusing a taste for the study of nature. For a work so vast, however aiming, as it did, at being little less than a general encyclopaedia of the sciences, Buffon s capacities may, without disparagement, be said to have been in sufficient, as is shown by the great weakness of parts of the work (such as that relating to mineralogy). The Histoire Naturelle passed through several editions, and was trans lated into various languages. The edition most highly prized by collectors, on account of the beauty of its plates, is the first, which was published in Paris (1749-1804) in forty-four quarto volumes, the publication extending over more than fifty years. In the preparation of the first fifteen volumes of this edition (1749-67) Buffon was assisted by Daubenton, and subsequently by Gueneau de Montbeliard, the Abbe Bexon, and Sounini de Manon- court. The following seven volumes form a supplement to the preceding, and appeared in 1774-89. These were succeeded by nine volumes on the Birds (1770-83), and these were followed by five volumes on Minerals (1783-88). The remaining eight volumes, which complete this edition, appeared after Buffon s death, and comprise Reptiles, Fishes, and Cetaceans. They were executed by Lacepede, and were published in successive volumes between 1788 and 1804. A second edition was commenced in 1774 and completed in 1804, in thirty-six volumes quarto. It is in most respects similar to the first edition, except that the anatomical descriptions are suppressed, and the supplement recast. Of the remaining editions of Buffon, the best is that which was commenced under the editorship of Lamouroux, and completed under that of Desmarets, in forty volumes octavo (1824-32). It is the only modern edition in which the anatomical descriptions of Daubenton are preserved. Though not without his enemies scientific and clerical Buffon had many warm friends, and his death was marked by the delivery of highly laudatory addressess, by Condorcet at the Academy of Sciences, Vicq-d Azir at the Academic Frangaise, and Bressonet before the Society of Agriculture. Extravagantly belauded by some, and vehemently attacked by others, we can recognize his merits without blinding ourselves to his defects.
This brief notice of his life may be fitly closed by the following quotation from Cuvier, in which the great French naturalist, whilst rejecting some speculations which recent science has generally accepted as probable, ascribes to Buffon the honour of being the first to clearly apprehend what is now admitted as the true principle of guidance in investigating the order of the universe : " It is impossible to defend, in all their details, either the first or the second of Buffon s theories of the earth. This comet which strikes off portions of the sun, these vitrified and incandescent planets which refrigerate by degrees, some more rapidly than others, those organized beings which appear successively on the surface of the planets, as their temperature becomes sufficiently lowered, can only be regarded as flights of fancy. But Buffon has not less the merit of having been the first to point out clearly that the actual condition of the globe is the result of a succession of changes, of which we can find the evidences to-day ; and it is he who first drew the observa tion of all investigators to the phenomena by which these changes can be unravelled."
BUG, a name common to all the species belonging to the Cimicidce, a family of Hemiptcrous Insects, the best known example of which is the House Bug or Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius). This disgusting insect is of an oval shape, of a rusty red colour, and, in common with the whole tribe to which it belongs, gives off an offensive odour when touched ; unlike the others, however, it is wingless. The bug is pro vided with a proboscis, which when at rest lies along the inferior side of the thorax, and through which it sucks the blood of man, the sole food of this species. It is nocturnal in its habits, remaining concealed by day in crevices of bed furniture, among the hangings, or behind the wall paper, and shows considerable activity in its nightly raids in search of food. The female deposits her eggs at the begin ning of summer in crevices of wood and other retired situa tions, and in three weeks they emerge as small, white, and almost transparent larvae. These change their skin very frequently before undergoing metamorphosis, which in their case is " incomplete," the pupa closely resembling the perfect insect, and attaining its full development in eleven weeks. Two centuries ago it was a rare insect in Britain, and probably owes its name, which is derived from a Celtic word signifying "ghost" or "goblin,"to the terrorwhich its attacks at first inspired. Other species of bugs suck the blood of many of the lower warm-blooded animals, but the majority, as in the genus Tinyis, confine themselves to the juices of plants.
BUGENHAGEN, Johann (1485-1558), surnamed Pomeranus, a German Reformer, was born at Wollin, in Pomerania, on the 24th June 1485. He was educated at the university of Greifswakl, and gained high distinction as a classical scholar. In 1505 he was made rector of a school at Treptow, and was soon afterwards selected by the abbot of a neighbouring convent as one of the lecturers to the monks. In 1520 he received a copy of Luther s work on the Babylonish captivity, which speedily wrought a change in his views. He warmly embraced the principles of the Reformation, and succeeded in bringing over the aged abbot and several others. He made his way to Wittenberg in the following year, was warmly received by Luther and Melanchthon, and quickly became a foremost man in the Reformation movement. He was specially qualified for organizing the new church, and his activity spread itself over a wide district. In 1528 he arranged the church affairs of Brunswick and Bamburg ; in 1530 those of Lubeck and Pomeraiiia. In 1537 he was invited to Denmark by king Christian III., and remained five years in that country, organizing the chinch and schools. He passed the remainder of his life at Wittenberg, braving all the perils of war and persecution rather than desert the place that was dear to him as the home of the Reformation. He died on the 20th April 1558. Among his numerous works is a history of Pomerania, which remained un published till 1728, Pomerania in IV. Libros Divisa.
