GEOFFROY SAINT-HILAIRE, ÉTIENNE, one of the most eminent naturalists of modern times, was a native of Étaples (Seine-et-Oise), where he was born, April 15, 1772. By his genius, energy, and skilful investigations, during a long career as professor of zoology to the faculty of sciences of the Académie de Paris, and at the Jardin du Roi, he contributed more than any other naturalist, except his great contemporary and friend Cuvier, to the progress of the science and philosophy of natural history. Destined by his parents for the clerical profession, he was entered at the college of Navarre, in Paris, in order to study philosophy and the other branches reckoned necessary as preparatory to a theological course. At this time Brisson was professor of experimental philosophy in that college, and gained immense influence over the mind of the young student, who felt instilled into him an enthusiastic love of nature in all its wonderful variety. This inclination greatly strengthened the sympathy between Geoffroy and his teacher. Having completed the term of his literary studies, he left the college of Navarre, and obtained his father's permission to enter the college of Cardinal Lemoine. Notwithstanding the high and honourable position in the church held out to him through powerful patronage, Geoffroy wished to pursue studies more in harmony with his peculiar tastes and sympathies; and while hesitating about which department of natural science he should devote his attention to, he was much assisted in coming to a decision by making the acquaintance of the celebrated Huiy, then one of the professors in the Cardinal's college. Huiy became his warm, steady, and attached friend, and by his example and counsels greatly assisted him in developing the tastes which the lectures of Brisson had aroused. The consequence was, that from this moment Geoffroy enthusiastically devoted himself solely to the study of the natural sciences. In pursuance of his determination, he first, in company with Huiy, took the mineralogical course at the Collège de France. Daubenton, who filled this chair, was not slow to perceive the decided bent and talent of his pupil. At the conclusion of his lectures, being in the habit of entering into conversation with his pupils, for the purpose of affording explanations to his auditors on points which might to them seem obscure, Daubenton was struck with the depth of the remarks and questions elicited from the young Geoffroy on such occasions; and even then he predicted the distinguished rank which his pupil would one day occupy in the scientific world.
The labours of Geoffroy and his friend Huiy, however, were interrupted by the revolution of 1789. During the massacre of September 1792, Geoffroy, at the risk of his own life, was the means of saving several priests; and among them Huiy, who had been imprisoned for recusancy. This act of devotion so endeared him to his teachers, especially to Daubenton, that through his instrumentality he was ap-
Geoffroy. pointed, in 1793, to an office in the Jardin des Plantes, where he founded the vast zoological collections which form one of the true glories of Paris. By the law of June 10, 1793, the Jardin du Roi was constituted a school for advanced instruction in all branches of natural history, conducted by twelve eminent professors, each distinguished in his own branch. Scarcely entered on his twenty-fourth year, and very recently having applied himself to the study of mineralogy, Geoffroy was judicially selected by Daubenton for the chair of zoology (section, vertebrate animals), an appointment which he more recently shared with Lacépède.
Having thus become the colleague of Daubenton, Fourcroy, Jussieu, Lacépède, Lamarck, Vauquelin, and Latreille, Geoffroy devoted himself with enthusiastic energy to the study of zoology exclusively. For the purpose of extending the sphere of this science, he earnestly and cordially encouraged the efforts of all those who attempted to assist in its progress; and to this zeal it is that Europe owes one of the men who have rendered her pre-eminently illustrious in the science of natural history—the celebrated Cuvier. During the years 1795 and 1796, Geoffroy and Cuvier resided together, sharing with each other everything that could strengthen the already strong natural sympathy of their natures. Soon after this Cuvier was appointed joint professor of comparative anatomy with his bosom friend—an honour which justified the presage that called him to Paris, "pour remplir le rôle d'un nouveau Linné."
In 1798, Geoffroy was selected as one of the great scientific expedition to Egypt; and in the execution of his functions he displayed great firmness in preserving to his beloved Paris immense treasures of precious materials collected and prepared with infinite pains during that memorable expedition in behalf of science and art. After the capitulation of Alexandria, these treasures were only saved by Geoffroy threatening to destroy them when the English general wished to retain them: "We ourselves shall burn our treasures," said he, "and history will not fail to record that you have burned another library in Alexandria." From Egypt Geoffroy transferred to Paris a curious and most interesting collection of ancient animals; and he inserted in the great work upon Egypt learned observations on the natural history, as well as on the civil history and theogony of that interesting and inexhaustible country. On his return to France he continued his course of lectures on natural history. He was one of the first men of science and literature on whom Napoleon bestowed the cross of honour, and in 1807 he became a member of the institute, and soon afterwards associate of the Académie de Médecine, as well as of most of the scientific institutions of Europe; then professor of zoology to the faculty of sciences (1809), still holding at the museum the chair created in 1793.
In 1810 a mission into Portugal for the re-organization of public instruction held out to his courage, his love of science, and his benevolence, a new occasion of manifesting themselves in all their comprehensiveness. Once more, we are told, did the English wish to despoil him of his rich choice collections; but these were saved to him by the intervention of the conservators of Ajuda, who attested to the English commissaries that these collections had been granted to the French naturalist in exchange for minerals brought from Paris, and that the classification of the Cabinet of Ajuda was the fruit of this philosopher's labour. This declaration, with the sacrifice which Geoffroy made of several cases con-
taining his own property abandoned to the exigencies of the people, allowed him to enrich the museum of Paris with a complete collection of the productions of Brazil.
The works of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire do not constitute a regular system; they are composed of detached Mémoires in which are contained some new and bold ideas of which no one disputes the originality and depth, though in their application they often lose much of their justness and value. The limits of a brief notice permit only a very brief analysis of the systems he developed in order to arrive at the solution of philosophical and physiological questions of the highest interest.
In psychology, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire enunciated some negative ideas only. The soul, which he calls a psychological element, is not an entity any more than a metaphysical abstraction, according to his theory. This being, composed at once of a spiritual and a material principle (spiritus corporeus) cannot represent the intelligent, since no part of matter can belong to intellectual functions. In this manner he tells us what the soul is not; but what it is he nowhere informs us, nor does he even attempt a solution of the question so often earnestly asked—What is the soul?
In his physiological views, however, Geoffroy is explicit and positive. In formal and direct opposition to the philosophy of final causes, he has exerted all his efforts to demonstrate that it was not with any view to their results that the organs of animated beings have been created. This miserable and arid system, which would prohibit us from contemplating with gratitude the boundless intelligence of the Author of nature, has been too successfully refuted ever to be mooted again with the faintest hope of success.
It was imputed to Geoffroy that his doctrine necessarily led to atheism; because if all the existing species of organic beings could have descended from one antediluvian species, the intervention of creative power was useless; and that if both unorganized matter and organic matter are eternal, the intervention of a creator was impossible. This imputation Geoffroy indignantly scouted and disavowed as necessarily arising out of his doctrines. In his Notions de Philosophie Naturelle (1838), he complains that he has been misunderstood; that his doctrine does not suppose the existence of such an antediluvian species; and that by the term "Typal Unity," he means unity of organic composition, which means quite a different thing.
The most important of the published works of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire are:—Philosophie Anatomique, 1823; Système dentaire des Mammifères et des oiseaux, 1824; Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères, in concert with Cuvier, 1819, second edition, 1828, et seq., 4 vols. 4to; Cours d'Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères, 1828; Des Considérations sur les Singes qui se rapprochent le plus de l'Espèce Humaine, 1836; Notions de Philosophie Naturelle, and some biographical fragments, 1838. Besides all these, there are numerous contributions by him in several literary journals; and he was one of the collaborators of the Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles and of the Dictionnaire Classique d'Histoire Naturelle, in which he was chiefly aided by his son, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, M.D., and Member of the Académie des Sciences.
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire died June 19, 1844; and his Life, Works, and Theories, have since been published by his son. The title is: Vie, Travaux, et Doctrine Scientifique D'Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire; par son fils, M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Paris, 1847. (A. F. V.)