Buffon's Natural History. Volume 04 (of 10) Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c — Themes and Context

Infancy and the Body in Early Life

The volume begins with practical advice on infant care, grounded in observations of bodily needs. Buffon notes that newborns sleep most of the first month, waking only from pain or hunger, and that their cries are the sole means of signaling distress. He emphasizes the importance of cleanliness, describing how North American indigenous peoples use wood dust in cradles to absorb moisture, and how in Virginia infants are placed naked on a plank with a hole for excrement. These details reveal Buffon's comparative method, drawing on global practices to argue for attentive care. The tone is direct and prescriptive, focusing on the physical vulnerabilities of early life.

The Senses as Gateways to Knowledge

In the chapters on seeing, hearing, and the senses in general, Buffon shifts from bodily care to epistemology. The fictional narrative of the newly created man serves as a thought experiment: he initially believes all objects are equally near, and only through repeated trials does he learn to coordinate eye and hand. The description of eating fruit—its weight, fragrance, and taste—is rendered with sensory vividness, culminating in a feeling of power over external substances. Buffon presents the senses not as passive receptors but as active tools for constructing reality, with touch serving as the ultimate corrective to sight's deceptions.

Old Age, Death, and Human Varieties

The later chapters address the end of life and the range of human forms. Buffon describes old age as a gradual decline, with the senses dulling and the body losing its vigor. His account of death is clinical, focusing on physiological changes rather than metaphysical speculation. The final chapter on varieties in the human species catalogues differences in skin color, stature, and custom, though the excerpts offer only a glimpse of this section. Throughout, Buffon maintains a taxonomic impulse, treating human life as part of a broader natural order, yet his earlier philosophical digressions lend the volume an unexpected introspective depth.

Readers approaching this volume should note its dual character: part practical manual on human development, part philosophical meditation on perception. The extended fictional passage in the senses chapters is a highlight, offering a rare window into Buffon's speculative imagination. Pay attention to how he weaves empirical detail with narrative—the contrast between the dry advice on infant care and the lyrical account of tasting fruit reveals the range of his authorial voice. This volume rewards those who read across its sections, tracing how Buffon's method shifts from observation to introspection and back again.

That Buffon passage about the man born adult—how he has to learn everything through touch, slowly, patiently—stayed with me for days. It made me think of the body as a mystery we’re always decoding, which is exactly the quiet ache I felt in The Story of the Living Machine A Review of the Conclusions of Modern Biology in Regard to the Mechanism Which Controls the Phenomena of Living Activity — Edition Insights. Same wonder, different era.