SKETCH OF M. DE QUATREFAGES. |
JEAN LOUIS ARMAND DE QUATREFAGES DE BRÉAU was born at Berthezeme, near Villerauge (Gard), France, February 10, 1810. His family was of the Protestant faith, and allied to the family of the publicist La Baumelle. His father was an educated agriculturist, who had served with distinction in Holland previous to the Revolution, but had returned to France on the breaking out of war between the two countries. Having received careful elementary instruction, young Quatrefages entered the medical course at Strasbourg, where he received the double diploma of Doctor of Medicine and Doctor in Science. On November 29, 1820, he sustained a thesis on the "Theory of a Cannon-Shot"; the next year he published at Strasbourg a work on aëroliths; and in 1832 a medical thesis on "Extraversion of the Bladder." He was appointed an examination preparator of chemistry to the Faculty of Medicine at Strasbourg; and at a later period established himself at Toulouse, where he brought the study of the natural sciences and medical practice to the front, and published a number of articles in the "Journal of Medicine and Surgery" of Toulouse, and memoirs in the "Annals of the Natural Sciences" from 1834 to 1836. His essay on the "Axodontes," published in 1835, was the subject of a favorable report by a Commission of the Academy of Sciences, and attracted attention to his capacity as a naturalist. At the end of 1838, M. de Quatrefages was called on the nomination of M. de Salvandy, then minister, to the chair of Zoölogy in the Scientific Faculty of Toulouse; but that provincial town not offering the conveniences he desired for pursuing the researches on which he had become engaged, he resigned his position there in a short time and went to reside in Paris, where he enjoyed the friendship and had the assistance of M. Milne-Edwards, and, supporting himself by means of his books and the scientific articles he wrote for the periodical press, was able to pursue his studies with ardor and to publish the results of them.
In 1850, he was appointed Professor of Natural History in the Lycée Napoléon. In April, 1852, he was elected a member, in the Zoölogical Section of the Academy of Sciences, where ho took the place of Savigny. In August, 1855, he was called to the chair of Anthropology and Ethnology in the Museum of Natural History; and it is in these fields of science that the work by which he is most distinguished has been performed.
In 1872 M. de Quatrefages participated in the organization of the French Association for the Promotion of Science which that year held its first meeting at Bordeaux, and in the absence of the designated president, Claude Bernard, who was prevented by the state of his health from attending, served as acting president. His opening ad-