Daubenton, M. (Louis-Jean-Marie), 1716-1799

Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716-1799) was a pioneering French naturalist, member of the French Academy of Sciences, lecturer of natural history at the college of medicine (1775) and professor of zoology at the Collège de France (1778), first director of the Museum of Natural History in 1793 (formerly Jardin des Plantes in Paris). In 1742, the naturalist Georges Buffon asked him to prepare anatomical descriptions for a work on natural history (Histoire naturelle, 1794-1804), work he only partially completed before disputing with Buffon. However, in 1746, their friendship renewed, Daubenton became Buffon's assistant as keeper and demonstrator of the cabinet of natural history at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris.

Gilles Germain Richard de Ruffey (1706-1794) was president of the Chambre des comptes de Bourgogne as well as of the Académie des sciences, arts et belles lettres de Dijon. De Ruffey was also a writer, including poems and the work L'Histoire secrète de l'Académie.

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