Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/714

* BUFFON. 632 BUFOKD. the earth were erroneous and fantastic, yet had the virtue, as was pointed out by Cuvier, of calling attention clearly to tlie fact that the his- tory of life upon the globe was the history of a succession of advancing changes. Soon after ' taking charge of the museum he l>egan the great work upon natural history, Histoirr natiireltc, ,in'ncralc et i>articiilierc (44 volumes, quarto, Paris, 1749-1804 ), with which his name is most commonly associated, and which was completed by Lacep&de after his death. It passed through several editions, and was the first work which brought together the information of the lime in a manner interesting and intelligible to the gen- eral reader, illustrated by really good pictures. Scattered through this work are passages of speculation and suggestion, which seem accident- ally thrown out rather than carefully considered, and which are often so tinged with irony as to make it difficult for the modern critic to deter- mine whether their author really believed what he said — an efi'ect in jjart due, no doubt, to the danger of uttering new ideas in the political and social atmosphere of his time. Some of these suggestions seem definitely to anticipate the evo- lutionary ideas of Lamarck and the two Dar- wins, and to assert the mutability of species, but they are rarely complete in statement. He seems to have been most impressed with the influence of climate as a factor compelling variation in animals and species, and hints that thus many species in the past may have been extinguished or created. He even asserts, in a hypothetical way, the idea of the derivation of species by de- scent and variation from earlier forms, but fol- lows it by a denial. Dr. A. S. Packard, who col- lected all the views of Buffon bearing upon biological evolution, as the term is now under- stood, concludes an examination of them as follows: ''The tentative views of Buffon. . . would now be regarded as in a degree superficial and valueless. But they appeared thirty-four years before Lamarck's theory, and, though not epoch-making, they are such as will render Buf- fon's name memorable for all time." Buffon was admitted to the French Academy in 1753, when he delivered as his inaugural ad- dress the famous Discotirs sur Ic xti/lc. He was also perpetual treasurer of the Academy of Sciences, fellow of the Royal Society of Lon- don, and member of all the prominent scientific societies of Europe. He married in 1752, and his son became an officer of the French Army, and was executed in 1793 for political reasons. Consult: Flourens, Histoire des travaux ct des idics de Buffon (Paris, 1844), and Packard, Lamarck (New York, 1901). BTJFFONE, buf-fo'na, Carlo. In .Jonson's Every Man Out of His Humour, "a slave that hath an extraordinary gift in pleasing his palate, and will swill up more sack at a sitting than would make all the giard a posset. His religion is railing and his discourse ribaldry." He is intended as a caricature either of Marston or of Dekker. BUFFOON (Fr. bouffon. It. buffone, from huffa, jest, buffarc, to puff, buff, blow). A low jester. The Italian biiffo (from buffa, a farce) is the name given to a comic singer in an opera. In the corrupt Latinity of the Middle Ages buffa meant a slap on the cheek; and in the Italian iuffare signifies the puffing of wind through the mouth. It is probably from the favorite trick played by clowns in farces — one swelling out his cheeks with wind, the other slajjping them, so as to make a ludicrous explosion — that the terms buffones in Latin, buffoni in Italian, bouffons in French, and in English buffoon, were derived. In Italy, the buffo cantunic is distinct from the buffo comico; the former having greater musical talent, and sustaining a more important part, the latter having greater license in jocoseness. The voice of a buffo cantanle is generally a bass, but sometimes a tenor buffo is introduced. BU'FORD, John (1826-63). An American soldier, prominent as a cavalry leader on the Federal side in the Civil War. He was born in Woodford County, Ky., graduated at West Point in 1848; was assigned to garrison duty in the West; participated, as first lieutenant, in the Sioux expedition of 1855, and in the Utah expe- dition of 1857-58; and from 1859 to 1861 was stationed at Fort Crittendon, Utah. In Novem- ber, 18(il. he was appointed assistant inspector- general with the rank of major, and in .July, 1862, after having served for several months in the defenses at Washington, was raised to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers. He was then placed in command of a cavalry brigade in the Army of Virginia, took a prominent part in General Hooker's campaign of 1862, and was wounded in the second battle of Bull Run. In ilcClellan's ilaryland campaign, he served as chief of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac, and took a prominent part in the battles of South Moxintain and Antietam, replacing Stoneman on llcClellan's staff' after the latter. Soon after- wards, upon the reorganization of the cavalry by Burnside, Buford was placed in command of the Reserve Cavalry Brigade, and in this capa- city took part in the battle of Fredericksburg, in the famous Stoneman's Raid, and in the spir- ited cavalry engagements at Brandy Station. He then served under Meade in the Pennsylvania campaign, was engaged in numerous cavalry skirmishes, and displayed remarkable gallantry in the battle of Gettysburg, which he began, be- fore the arrival of Reynolds, on July 1. By many he is credited with having deliberately chosen the field on which this great battle was fought, and with having so manteuvred as to bring Meade and Lee together here. Thus the Comte de Paris says, "It was Buford who selected the battlefield where the tNO armies were about to measure their strength" {Historii of the Civil War in America, 111.. 545). Buford jnirsued the Con- federates to Warrenton. and was afterwards en- gaged in many operations in Central Virginia, rendering a particularly valuable sei-vice in covering Meade's retrograde movement to Bull Run in October, 1863. He withdrew on sick leave in November, and on December 16 died in Washington, receiving a commission as major- general on the day of his death. A monument was erected to his memory on the Gettysburg battlefield in 1895. Consult a biographical sketch in the Proceedings of the Buford Memorial Association (New York, 1895). BUFORD, Napoij:o. Bonapahte (1807-83). An .mcricaii soldier and clergyman. He was born in Kentucky, and graduated at West Point in 1827. He then studied law at Harvard, was assistant professor at West Point, and in 1835 resigned from the service to become an engineer.