LACEPEDE, (BERNARD-GERMAIN-) ETIENNE DE LA ...

(count of) born Dec. 26, 1756, Agen, Fr. died Oct. 6, 1825, pinay-sur-Seine French naturalist and politician who made original contributions to the knowledge of fishes and reptiles. Lacpde's Essai sur l'lectricit naturelle et artificielle (1781; Essay on Natural and Artificial Electricity) and Physique gnrale et particulire (178284; General and Particular Physics) so impressed the naturalist G.-L.L. Buffon that he arranged the appointment (1785) of Lacpde as keeper and subdemonstrator at the Cabinet du Roi, associated with the Paris Botanical Garden. Buffon also invited him to make contributions to Buffon's own Histoire naturelle (Natural History) series. Accepting, Lacpde published first the Histoire naturelle des quadrupdes ovipares (1788; Natural History of Oviparous Quadrupeds) and then Histoire naturelle des serpents (1789; Natural History of Snakes). During the Revolution he was appointed natural history professor in the study of fishes and reptiles at the relocated Paris Botanical Garden, where he completed the Histoire naturelle des poissons, 5 vol. (17981803; Natural History of Fishes). Although the work contained a number of errors because of insufficient research materials, it was recognized as the most original text on the subject at that time. The Histoire naturelle des ctacs (1804; Natural History of Cetaceans) followed. After the rise of Napoleon, Lacpde was elected to the French Senate in 1799. He became president of that body (1801) and grand chancellor of the Lgion d'Honneur (1803). He was appointed minister of Bourbon state in 1809. After the restoration he returned to government, taking a seat in the Chamber of Peers (1819).