Buffon's Natural History: Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &C. &C

Buffon's Natural History: Containing A Theory Of The Earth, A General History Of Man, Of The Brute Creation, And Of Vegetables, Minerals, &C. &C by Georges Louis Leclerc Comte De Buffon is an ambitious 18th-century natural history treatise that surveys the natural world from Earth’s formation to the histories of mankind, the brute creation, and the kingdoms of vegetables and minerals. Buffon advances a mechanistic philosophy of life, describing how living beings operate as complex machines with persistent interior functions, sensory organs, and a central nervous system. He introduces the concept of two simultaneous modes of existence—perpetual internal activity and intermittent external action—and proposes a dual aspect of human nature, the spiritual soul and a material mind, the latter being the source of sensation and appetite. The work systematically examines animals, especially domestic species, detailing their anatomy, behavior, breeding, and management, while arguing that climate and geography shape varieties and careers of species. Throughout, Buffon questions teleology, emphasizes careful observation, and articulates a unity of nature under divine arrangement.