LOUIS-JEAN-MARIE, a distinguished naturalist, was born at Montbar, in the department of the Côte d'Or, in France, May 29, 1716. His father, Jean Daubenton, was a notary in that place; his mother's name was Marie Pichenot. In his youth he was distinguished for the sweetness of his temper, and by his diligent application to his studies. The Jesuits of Dijon, under whose tuition he was first placed, noticed him in a peculiar manner. Having gone through a course of what was called philosophy under the Dominicans of Dijon, his father, who destined him for the church, and who had made him assume the ecclesiastical dress at the age of twelve, sent him to Paris to study theology. But his predilection for natural history induced him privately to study medicine. Accordingly he attended the lectures of Baron, Martineng, and Col de Villars, and likewise those of Winslow, Hunault, and Antoine de Jussieu, in the botanic garden. The death of his father in 1736 enabled him to follow his inclination without constraint. Accordingly he took his degree at Rheims in 1741, and returned to his native town with the intention of following the practice of medicine. But fortune destined him for a more brilliant career.

Buffon, also a native of Montbar, had at this time formed the bold plan of giving life to the dry and sterile study of natural history. Too ardent and impatient to brook the tedium of minute and prolonged investigation, he looked around for a man of sufficient patience and sagacity to act a secondary part in the undertaking. Such a man he found in Daubenton, the companion of his infancy.

The character of these two philosophers was almost opposite in every respect. Buffon was violent, impatient, and rash; Daubenton was all gentleness, patience, and caution; Buffon wished to divine the truth rather than to discover it; Daubenton believed nothing which he had not himself seen and ascertained; Buffon suffered his imagination to lead him from nature; Daubenton, on the contrary, discarded from his writings every expression which was calculated to mislead. They were thus happily fitted to correct each other's faults; and accordingly the history of quadrupeds, which appeared whilst they thus laboured together, is the most exempt from error of any of the divisions or departments into which Buffon's great work on natural history is divided.

Buffon drew Daubenton to Paris about 1742, and procured for him the place of demonstrator of the cabinet of natural history, at first with a salary of only 500 francs, but which was gradually increased to 2000. He furnished him likewise with a lodging, and neglected nothing to secure his comfort and convenience. Daubenton, on his side, devoted himself to carry out the views of his benefactor. The cabinet of natural history, which was arranged, and in a great measure collected, by his means, proved of immense service. In the history of quadrupeds he gave the description and dissection of a hundred and eighty-two species of quadrupeds. These details contained a great number of new facts, arranged in such a manner that the most curious results are often obtained merely by comparing them together. This work procured for Daubenton a very high reputation, and drew upon him the envy of Réaumur, who at that time considered himself as at the head of natural history in France. But the credit and reputation of Buffon were sufficient to prevent his friend from falling a victim to the attack of this formidable antagonist.

In the subsequent parts of his natural history, Buffon was persuaded to separate himself from Daubenton. This injured the precision and value of these parts excessively, whilst it deprived Daubenton of 12,000 francs a-year. Afterwards the intimacy between them revived, and continued till the death of Buffon.

The number of dissertations on natural history which Daubenton published in the Memoirs of the French Academy is so great, that even a list of them would be too long for this place. Descriptions of different animals, dissections, comparisons between the forms of different animals, anatomical examinations of fossil bones in order to determine the animals to which they had belonged, the physiology of vegetables, and different departments of mineralogy, successively occupied him; not to mention his experiments on agriculture and rural economy, which, however, were of more service to him afterwards than all the rest of his labours, on account of the reputation which they had procured for him among the people.

By his lectures, as well as by his publications, Daubenton greatly promoted the cause of science. From 1775 he gave lectures on natural history in the college of medicine. In 1783 he lectured on rural economy. He was appointed professor of mineralogy by the Convention at the Jardin du Roi, and he gave lectures at the Normal School during the ephemeral existence of that institution. He was likewise one of the editors of the Journal des Savans, and contributed to both the Encyclopedias. As a lecturer he was extremely popular, and, what is uncommon, he retained his popularity to the last.

In the year 1799 he was appointed one of the members of the conservative senate, and he resolved to attend the meeting of it. This obliged him to alter his regimen. The season was severe. At the first meeting which he attended he fell from his seat in an apoplectic fit. The most speedy assistance was procured, and he was restored to consciousness. With the utmost calmness he pointed out with his fingers the progress of the paralysis in different parts of his body. After a short illness he died Jan. 1, 1800.

DAUGHTER (Saxon, dohter; Ger., tochter); a female child. In the Old Testament, the word daughter is used in a variety of other senses; as, for example, to designate a uterine sister, niece, or any female descendant; women, as natives, or professing the religion of certain places, as the "Daughter of Zion," "Daughters of the Philistines;" also to denote small towns or colonies belonging to or derived from large cities, &c. This metaphor is illustrated by the almost universal custom of representing towns under the figure of a woman.

DAULIS, in Ancient Geography, one of the oldest towns of Phocis, not far from the confines of Bocotia. It was associated in mythology with the tragic story of Tereus, Progne, and Philomela. Daulis was twice destroyed in ancient times; first by Xerxes, in the second Persian invasion; and afterwards by Alexander the Great. Its position, on the top of a strong hill, rendering it important as a military station, caused it to be rebuilt. The ruins of Daulis are still to be seen near the modern village of Dhavlia.

DAUPHIN, a title given to the eldest son of the royal family of France, and heir presumptive of the crown, on account, as is said, of the province of Dauphiné, which in 1349 was granted to Charles Philippe de Valois (afterwards Charles V.), on this condition, by Humbert, dauphin of the Viennois. The dauphin, in his letters patent, styled himself "By the grace of God, eldest son of France, and dauphin of Viennois."

Most authors who have sought the origin of the name Dauphin and Dauphine, seem to have indulged too much in conjecture. Duchesne is of opinion that it was the grandson of Guy the Fat who first bore the name of dauphin. But Chorier observes, that William, canon of Notre-Dame at Grenoble, who wrote the life of Margaret, daughter of Stephen earl of Burgundy, married to Guy, son of Guy the Fat, calls the latter simply Guy the Old, and the former always Count Dauphin; and he adds, that no record nor monument ever attributes the title of dauphin to Guy the Fat, or to any of his predecessors. Hence the word must necessarily have taken its rise in his son, all of whose successors so constantly assumed it that it became the proper name of the family. Guy died in the year 1142, in the flower of his youth; so that it must be about the year 1120 that the title originated, and without doubt, on some remarkable occasion. Chorier observes further, that this prince was of a military disposition, and delighted in nothing but war; and again, that it was the custom of the cavaliers to deck their esquires, their coats of arms, and the housing of their horses, with some figure or device peculiar to themselves, and by which they were distinguished from all others engaged in the same combat or tournament. From all these circumstances, he conjectures that this Guy chose the dolphin for his symbol, that this was the crest of his helmet, and that he bore it on his coat in some notable tournament or battle in which he distinguished himself. Such, according to Chorier, is the real origin of the appellation.

The seigneurs or lords of Auvergne have likewise borne the appellation of dauphin; but the dauphins of Auvergne did not bear that title till a considerable time after those of the Viennois, and even received it from them. The manner of their doing so may be briefly explained. Guy VIII., dauphin of Viennois, had by his wife Margaret, daughter of Stephen earl of Burgundy, a son and two daughters. The son was his successor Guy IX., Beatrix, one of the daughters, was married to the Count d'Auvergne, who, according to Blondel, was William V., or rather, as Chorier and others think, Robert VI., father of William V. This prince lost the greater part of the county of Auvergne, which was taken from him by his uncle William, assisted by Louis the Young; and he was left master of only the little canton of which Vaudables is the capital. But he had a son whom he called Dauphin, on account of Guy, or Guignes, his uncle by the mother's side; and from his time his successors, holding the same petty canton of Auvergne, styled themselves dauphins of Auvergne, and bore a dolphin for their arms.

DAUPHINÉ, an ancient province of south-eastern France, now forming the departments of Isère, Drôme, and Hautes-Alpes. Its first Celtic occupants were the Allobroges and Catriges, and it remained under their sway till the time of Charles Martel. When annexed to the territory of the French king, the title of dauphin, now extinct in the line of independent counts, was given to the eldest son of the royal family.

DAURAT, or DORAT, JEAN (1507–1588), a French poet, born in the Limousin. He studied at the University of Paris, and succeeded Stracellus as professor of Greek. He had an excessive fondness for anagrams, and his enthusiasm led him to write a French and Latin commentary on the centuries of the prophet Nostradamus. His rage for verse-making amounted almost to a disease. Scaliger, who entertained a high opinion of his learning and abilities, and ranked him with Cujas as a critic, informs us that Daurat spent the latter part of his life in endeavouring to find all the Bible in Homer. In the reign of Henry II., he was preceptor to the king's pages; and Charles IX., who took great delight in his conversation, honoured him with the title of his poet.