edited the second edition of Lamarck's Invertebrate Animals. He described the mollusca of Algeria in the Scientific Exploration of Algeria, published by the French government. He also contributed many of the articles to the Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle of M. Dorbigny.—E. L.
DESHOULIÈRES, Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde, born at Paris in 1634; died in 1694; daughter of an old chevalier, who was attached to the household of Marie de Medicis and afterwards to that of Anne of Austria. Antoinette was carefully educated—knew Latin, Italian, Spanish; sang, danced, rode; and was thoroughly accomplished. She had ambition, and she wished to be a poet. So she studied prosody under the poet Hesnaut—a great name then. She married at eighteen; but Guillaume de la Fon de Boisguérin, Seigneur Deshoulières, had scarcely given his name and title to her, when the political distractions of the time drove him from France. Antoinette returned to her parents, and consoled herself with the study of the philosophy of Gassendi and the fabrication of poetical structures, which have still a sort of existence. In some short time after she joined her husband at Rocroi, and afterwards at Brussels, where the prince of Condè, to whose fortunes Deshoulières had attached himself, now put up his tent. In the intervals of war the great Condè sought other conquests, and it is recorded by the biographers of the lady, that she victoriously resisted some dangerous approaches of the gallant general. We find her a prisoner at the chateau of Wilvorden; it is said in danger of her life. Her chief grievance under this calamity was that her sole resource, in the way of books, was confined to L'Ecriture Sainte et les peres de l'eglise. Madame Deshoulières lived in relations of friendly intimacy with the most distinguished persons of her time—the Corneilles, the Rochefoucaulds, &c. Her verses were exceedingly admired; but, like all occasional poems, are now known but to few. Voltaire said that, of the French ladies who cultivated poetry, she was the most successful, as more lines of hers were remembered and had passed into the general body of the language, than those of any other poetess. Her idylls are said to be the best in the language. Towards the close of her life she was given by Louis XIV. a pension of two thousand francs. She died of cancer in the breast.—Her daughter, Antoinette Thérèse, who wrote poems, which are published with those of Madame Deshoulières, died of the same disease. With Fontenelle as her competitor, she got the prize of the French Academy.—J. A., D.
DESJARDINS, Jules François, was born in the island of Mauritius in 1799, and died at Paris in 1840. From his youth he devoted himself to natural history, and from time to time sent to Europe the result of his observations on the animals of the Mauritius. He did not confine himself to one family of animals, but his observations embraced insects, mollusca, fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammalia. Through his love of natural history he succeeded in founding the Natural History Society of the Mauritius. It was during a visit to Europe, in order to carry out some plans he had formed for the benefit of his native country, that he was seized with the fatal illness which carried him off in the midst of his career of usefulness.—E. L.
DESLANDES, Andrè François Boureau, a French littérateur, was born at Pondicherry in 1690; and entering the government service, became commissary-general of the navy at Rochefort and Brest. His most elaborate production, "L'Histoire critique de la Philosophie," achieved some success, but has no worth as a history of thought, and owes any interest it possesses to its anecdotes of ancient philosophers. Deslandes pursued very miscellaneous studies. He wrote Latin verses and reflections on the great men who have jested on their deathbeds; travels in England, and an essay on the navy of the ancients; a treatise on moral certainty, and "L'Art de ne point Sennuyer." He died at Paris in 1757.—L. L. P.
DESMAHIS, Joseph François Edouard de Corsembleu, born at Sully-sur-Loire in 1722. Intended by his father, a magistrate, for the profession of the law, the prudent paternal project was spoiled by a visit from the famous Voltaire. The youth, fascinated by the wit and vivacity, and confounded by the presence of the foremost literary man of the time, expressed his feelings in a copy of verses, which being praised by the susceptible philosopher, completed Desmahis' resolution to leave law for poetry. The sacrifice was not very great, for his health was too delicate to allow of his supporting the duties of an arduous profession. His literary works, comprised in a couple of 12mo volumes, although polished and sparkling, are wanting in strength and fervour. He died at Paris in 1761 regretted for his kindly disposition.—J. F. C.
DESMARETS, Anselm-Gaetan, son of Nicolas Desmarets, a distinguished French naturalist and comparative anatomist. He was born at Paris on the 6th of March, 1784, and died on the 4th of June, 1838. He was professor of zoology in the royal veterinary and rural college of Alfort, and a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of France, and numerous other societies. From the year 1812 up till his death he was one of the most active zoological writers in France. Not only has he published several independent works which are regarded as authorities at the present day, but he was a constant contributor to the natural history journals and societies of Paris. Papers of his are to be found scattered through the pages of the Annales des Sciences Naturelles, the Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, the Bulletins of the Philomathic Society and of M. de Ferussac, the Revue Encyclopedique, and many other like publications. His principal separate works are—"Considerations on the class Crustacea, with a description of the species which inhabit the rivers and the coasts of France," Paris, 1825; "The Natural History of fossil Crustacea," Strasbourg and Paris, 1822; "Icthyology, or a Description of hitherto unknown species of Fishes from the island of Cuba," Paris, 1823; "Mammalogy, or a Description of the species of Mammifers." This was the article "Mammalogy" in the Encyclopédie Methodique. His various papers were principally devoted to zoology, but like his father his mind had a practical turn, and he was employed by Napoleon I. to draw up a report on the matters admitting of statistical returns. This was published in 1812. He also edited a part of the Suites à Buffon.—His son Eugene, secretary to the Entomological Society of France, and assistant-naturalist in the museum of the jardin des plantes, has published numerous papers on natural history in the dictionnaires and scientific journals of the day.—E. L.
DESMARETS, Jean, Sieur de Saint Sorlin, born at Paris in 1595; died in 1676. Having considerable interest at court, he was early made a member of the French Academy then just created. He was one of the persons deputed by the academy to examine and express a formal opinion on Corneille's Cid. Desmarets' conduct and principles were dissolute in the extreme. Cardinal Richelieu's strange ambition of authorship led him to employ Desmarets, as he had employed others, to throw into verse plots suggested by him. Desmarets, after a youth of dissoluteness, described himself as converted by miracle. He was engaged in the composition of an epic poem, "Clovis ou la France Chretienne." He had come nearly to the close of his poem, when he affirmed that he was assisted by a more than angelic visitant with the final cantos. The poem did not sustain at first hearing the bold claim made for it of direct inspiration, and the author past many a long year in writing critical essays to prove how good it was. He continued to publish verses, now for the most part on religious subjects, and was in point of fact a very troublesome and mischievous lunatic. He seems to have been jealous of another poor madman into whose confidence he insinuated himself. This was Simon Morin, who proclaimed himself to be the Son of man, and God's vicar on earth. This unfortunate wretch was several times imprisoned, and at last, with his wife and son, sentenced to be burned alive. The works of Desmarets are very numerous; his style in prose is praised by Chapelain. Several of his books are devotional. He translated into verse Thomas à Kempis, and versified the Psalms.—J. A., D.
DESMARETS, Nicolas, a distinguished French geologist and physical geographer. He was born at Soulaine, near Barsur-Aube, on the 16th of September, 1725, and died in Paris on the 28th of September, 1815, He was a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and subsequently of the Institute. He was also a member of the Society of Agriculture, and professor of natural history for the central schools of France. Although eminent as a geologist, and distinguished for his writings on this science, the great bent of his mind was towards the application of scientific principles to the arts. His first work was on the "Art of Papermaking," which was published in the year 1789. In the Encyclopédie Methodique are numerous articles of his writing, more especially on practical subjects. His principal geographical and geological works consist of—"An Encyclopædic Atlas of Ancient, Mediæval Age, and Modern Geography;" "Physico-
