136 Harrison
transgressions—were the most commonly cited causes of the degenera-
tion of animals and plants. By a happy coincidence the recently discov-
ered continent of America seemed to provide a living laboratory in which
would be confi rmed the deleterious effects of climate and dispersion.
These themes converged in the theories of organic degeneration of
George- Louis Leclerc, comte de Buffon (1707–1788). Buffon is best known
for his Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (1749–1804), probably the
most ambitious work of natural history ever produced. The groundwork
for this vast opus commenced during Buffon’s employment as keeper of
the Royal Gardens (Jardin du Roi, now the Jardin des Plantes) and emerged
out of a project to catalog the royal collections of natural history. Buffon
transformed this modest task into a massive undertaking to provide a
comprehensive account of the whole of nature. A total of fi fty volumes
were planned, of which thirty- six appeared during Buffon’s lifetime. The
immense scope of the project, combined with the fact that its compilation
was essentially the work of a single mind, meant that Buffon was able to
draw connections between the various subdisciplines of natural history
and to make universal claims about living things in general. Buffon thus
introduced an element of explanation into natural history, seeking a sin-
gle principle that could account for change and diversity in living things.
He also encouraged other natural historians to move beyond description,
to link facts together, to draw generalizations, and thus “to arrive at a
higher form of knowledge.”^93
According to Buffon, the diversity of living things proceeds from
“change, deterioration, degeneration.” The specifi c agents of change in-
clude climate, diet, domesticity, transportation, and migration.^94 Some
of Buffon’s compatriots posited similar agents of change. Pierre- Louis
Maupertuis could thus claim that inhabitants of glacial regions were “de-
formed,” while Corneille de Pauw argued along similar lines that all of the
native species of America were “degenerate.”^95 But Buffon went further,
entertaining the possibility that structurally similar creatures might be the
descendants of a common ancestor.^96 Buffon did not develop these ideas
in any great detail, however, and ultimately conceded—whether moti-
vated by piety or prudence is not clear—that “it is certain from revela-
tion that... every species emerged fully formed from the hands of the
creator.”^97 Buffon’s ideas show how nature could become the subject of a
history in the chronological sense. But he differs from earlier historians
of Earth by ignoring the kinds of historical records that earlier writers had
referred to, including sacred scripture. For Buffon, it is “the archives of
nature” that are to be consulted.^98 This new conception signals another
important shift in the study of nature away from static metaphors for the