Buffon planned his "Natural History" on an encyclopaedic scale. His point of view was unique. Natural history in its widest sense, he tells us, embraces every object in the visible universe. The obvious divisions of the subject, therefore, are, first, the earth, the air, and the water; then the animals--quadrupeds, birds, fishes, and so on--inhabiting each of these "elements," to use the phrase of his day. Now, Buffon argued, if man were required to give some account of the animals by which he was surrounded, of course he would begin with those with which he was most familiar, as the horse, the dog, the cow. From these he would proceed to the creatures with which he was less familiar, and finally deal--through the medium of travellers' tales and other sources of information--with the denizens of field, forest and flood in foreign lands. In similar fashion he would consider the plants, minerals, and other products of Nature, in addition to recounting the marvels revealed to him by astronomy. Whatever its defects on the scientific side, Buffon's plan was simplicity itself, and was adopted largely, if not entirely, in consequence of his contempt--real or affected--for the systematic method of the illustrious Linnaeus. Having charted his course, the rest was plain sailing. He starts with the physical globe, discussing the formation of the planets, the features of the earth--mountains, rivers, seas, lakes, tides, currents, winds, volcanoes, earthquakes, islands, and so forth--and the effects of the encroachment and retreat of the ocean. Animate nature next concerns him. After comparing animals, plants and minerals, he proceeds to study man literally from the cradle to the grave, garnishing the narrative with those incursions into the domains of psychology, physiology and hygiene, which, his detractors insinuated, rendered his work specially attractive and popular. _I.--The Four-Footed Animals_ Such questions occupied the first three volumes, and the ground was now cleared for the celebrated treatise on Quadrupeds, which filled no fewer than twelve volumes, published at various dates from 1753 (vol. iv.) to 1767 (vol. xv., containing the New World monkeys, indexes, and the like). Buffon's _modus operandi_ saved him from capital blunders. Though inordinately vain--"I know but five great geniuses," he once said; "Newton, Bacon, Leibniz, Montesquieu, and myself"--he was quite conscious of his own limitations, and had the common-sense to entrust to Daubenton the description of the anatomy and other technical matters as to which his own knowledge was comparatively defective. He reserved to himself what may be called the "literary" aspect of his theme, recording the place of each animal in history, and relating its habits with such gusto as his ornate and grandiose style permitted.