Everipedia Logo
Everipedia is now IQ.wiki - Join the IQ Brainlist and our Discord for early access to editing on the new platform and to participate in the beta testing.
Bernard Germain de Lacépède

Bernard Germain de Lacépède

Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (French pronunciation: ​[bɛʁnaʁ.ʒɛʁmɛ̃.etjɛn də la vil syʁ ilɔ̃ də la lasepɛd]; 26 December 1756 – 6 October 1825) was a French naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's great work, the Histoire Naturelle.

Bernard Germain de Lacépède
Born26 December 1756
Agen in Guienne
Died6 October 1825 (age 69)
Épinay-sur-Seine
NationalityFrench
Known forContinuing Buffon's Histoire Naturelle
Scientific career
FieldsNatural history
InstitutionsInstitut de France

Biography

Bust of Bernard-Germain de Lacépède by David d'Angers (1824).

Bust of Bernard-Germain de Lacépède by David d'Angers (1824).

Lacépède was born at Agen in Guienne. His education was carefully conducted by his father, and the early perusal of Buffon's Natural History (Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière) awakened his interest in that branch of study, which absorbed his chief attention. His leisure he devoted to music, in which, besides becoming a good performer on the piano and organ, he acquired considerable mastery of composition, two of his operas (which were never published) meeting with the high approval of Gluck; in 1781–1785 he also brought out in two volumes his Poétique de la musique. Meantime he wrote two treatises, Essai sur l'électricité (1781) and Physique générale et particulaire (1782–1784), which gained him the friendship of Buffon, who in 1785 appointed him subdemonstrator in the Jardin du Roi, and proposed that he continue Buffon's Histoire naturelle. This continuation was published under the titles Histoirenaturelledes quadrupèdes ovipares et des serpents. Tome premier (1788) and Histoire naturelle desserpents*. Tome second* (1789).[1]

After the French Revolution Lacépède became a member of the Legislative Assembly, but during the Reign of Terror he left Paris, his life having become endangered by his disapproval of the massacres. When the Jardin du Roi was reorganised as the Jardin des Plantes, Lacépède was appointed to the chair allocated to the study of reptiles and fishes. In 1798, he published the first volume of Histoire naturelle des poissons, the fifth volume appearing in 1803, and in 1804 appeared his Histoire des cétacées. From this period until his death the part he took in politics prevented him making any further contribution of importance to science. In 1799, he became a senator, in 1801 president of the senate (a role he also fulfilled in 1807–08 and 1811–13), in 1803 grand chancellor of the Legion of Honor, in 1804 minister of state, and at the Bourbon Restoration in 1819 he was created a peer of France. He died at Épinay-sur-Seine. During the latter part of his life he wrote Histoire générale physique et civile de l'Europe, published posthumously in 18 volumes, 1826.[1]

He was elected a member of the Institute of France in 1796, a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1806 and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1812.

Lacépède was initiated into freemasonry at 22 years old at Les Neuf Sœurs lodge in Paris, by Jérôme Lalande the worshipfull master himself, who wanted a naturalist for his prestigious lodge. In 178.5 millionépède created his own lodge : "Les Frères Initiés". After the Revolution, he helped Cambacérès to rebuild a French freemasonry submitted to the Emperor, and joined "Saint-Napoléon" lodge where General Kellermann was worshipfull master. He finished his masonic life as dignitary of the Suprême Conseil de France.[2][3][4]

Lacepede Bay in South Australia, and the Lacepede Islands off the northern coast of Western Australia,[5] are named after him, as is the Rue Lacepede near the Jardin des Plantes.

A species of gecko endemic to Mauritius, Phelsuma cepediana, is named in his honour.[6]

Evolution

Lacépède was an early evolutionary thinker. He argued for the transmutation of species. He believed that species change over time and may go extinct from geological cataclysms or become "metamorphosed" into new species.[7] In his book Histoire naturelle des poissons, he wrote:

"The species can undergo such a large number of modifications in its forms and qualities, that without losing its vital capacity, it may be, by its latest conformation and properties, farther removed from its original state than from a different species: it is in that case metamorphosed into a new species."[8]

Works

  • Les ages de la nature et histoire de l'espèce humaine. Paris 1830 p.m.

  • Histoire naturelle de l'homme. Pitois-Le Vrault, Paris 1827 p.m.

  • Histoire générale, physique et civile de l'Europe. Cellot, Mame, Delaunay-Vallée & de Mat, Paris, Brüssel 1826 p.m.

  • Histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes ovipares, serpents, poissons et cétacées. Eymery, Paris 1825.

  • Histoire naturelle des cétacées. Plassan, Paris 1804.

  • Notice historique sur la vie et les ouvrages de Dolomieu. Bossange, Paris 1802.

  • La menagerie du Museum national d'histoire naturelle. Miger, Paris 1801–04.

  • Discours d'ouverture et de clôture du cours de zoologie. Plassan, Paris 1801.

  • Discours d'ouverture et de clôture du cours d'histoire naturelle. Plassan, Paris 1799.

  • Histoire naturelle des poissons. Plassan, Paris 1798–1803.

  • Discours d'ouverture et de clôture du cours d'histoire naturelle des animaux vertébrés et a sang rouge. Plassan, Paris 1798.

  • Discours d'ouverture du Cours d'histoire naturelle. Paris 1797.

  • Histoire naturelle des serpents. Tome second. de Thou, Paris 1789.

  • Histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes ovipares et des serpens. Tome premier. de Thou, Paris 1788.

  • Vie de Buffon. Maradan, Amsterdam 1788.

  • La poétique de la musique. Paris 1785.

  • Physique générale. Paris 1782–84.

  • Essai sur l'électricité naturelle et artificielle. Paris 1781.

References

[1]
Citation Linken.wikisource.orgOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lacépède, Bernard Germain Étienne de la Ville, Compte de". Encyclopædia Britannica. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 48.
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[2]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgDictionnaire universelle de la Franc-Maçonnerie (Marc de Jode, Monique Cara and Jean-Marc Cara, ed. Larousse , 2011)
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[3]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgDictionnaire de la Franc-Maçonnerie (Daniel Ligou, Presses Universitaires de France, 2006)
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[4]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgLacépède: Savant, musicien, philanthrope et musicien (Bernard Quilliet, ed. Tallandier, 2013)
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[5]
Citation Linkkimberleycoast.com.au"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[6]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgBeolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Lacépède", p. 149).
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[7]
Citation Linkopenlibrary.orgRichards, Robert J. (1987). Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior. University of Chicago Press. pp. 57-58. ISBN 0-226-71200-1
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[8]
Citation Linkwww.nceas.ucsb.edu"Bernard-Germain-Etienne Lacépède (1756-1825)". National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[9]
Citation Linkarchive.orgInternet Archive
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[10]
Citation Linklhldigital.lindahall.orgHistoire naturelle de Lacépède, 2 vol.
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[11]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Archived copy"
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[12]
Citation Linkkimberleycoast.com.authe original
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[13]
Citation Linkwww.nceas.ucsb.edu"Bernard-Germain-Etienne Lacépède (1756-1825)"
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[14]
Citation Linkarchive.orgInternet Archive
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[15]
Citation Linklhldigital.lindahall.orgHistoire naturelle de Lacépède, 2 vol.
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM
[16]
Citation Linken.wikipedia.orgThe original version of this page is from Wikipedia, you can edit the page right here on Everipedia.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Additional terms may apply.See everipedia.org/everipedia-termsfor further details.Images/media credited individually (click the icon for details).
Sep 26, 2019, 6:16 PM