Lacépède, BERNARD DE LA VILLE, COUNT DE, French naturalist, was born on 26th December 1756, at Agen, and was appointed curator of Natural History in the Royal Gardens at Paris in 1785. At the Revolution he became professor of Natural History in the Jardin des Plantes and at the university. He was made a senator in 1799, a minister of state in 1809, and in 1814 a peer of France. He died of smallpox at Épinay, near St Denis, 6th October 1825. Besides continuing Buffon's Natural History at Buffon's own request—in Histoire des Reptiles (2 vols. 1788–89)—Lacépède wrote Histoire Naturelle des Poissons (6 vols. 1798–1803), which, in spite of numerous errors, was long held in high esteem, and works on the Cetecea, the Natural History of Man, Les Âges de la Nature, and a General History of Europe (18 vols. 1826). Lacépède was likewise a highly-accomplished musician, and published La Poétique de la Musique (2 vols. 1785). An edition of his works appeared at Paris in 3 vols. in 1876.
Lacépède, BERNARD DE LA VILLE, COUNT DE
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 6: Humber to Malta, p. 475
Source scan(s): p. 0490