Mathurin Jacques Brisson (30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 zoologist and natural philosopher

Natural philosophy

Natural philosophy or the philosophy of nature , is a term applied to the study of nature and the physical universe that was dominant before the development of modern science...

.

Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte

Fontenay-le-Comte

Fontenay-le-Comte is a commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:The Vendée River flows though the town. The town has an area of .-History:...

. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

, his published works in this department including Le Règne animal (1756) and Ornithologie (1760). In 1759, he became a member of the French Academy of Sciences

French Academy of Sciences

The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research...

.

After the death of R. A. F. Reaumur

René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur

René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur was a French scientist who contributed to many different fields, especially the study of insects.-Life:Réaumur was born in a prominent La Rochelle family and educated in Paris...

, whose assistant he was, he abandoned natural history, and was appointed professor of natural philosophy at Navarre

Navarre

Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...

 and later at Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. His most important work in this department was his Pesanteur Spécifique des Corps (1787), but he published several other books on physical subjects which were in considerable repute for a time.

He died at Croissy

Croissy

Croissy is part of the name of several communes of France:* Croissy-Beaubourg, in the Seine-et-Marne département* Croissy-sur-Seine, in the Yvelines département...

near Paris.

Publications

• Regnum animale in classes IX distributum sive Synopsis methodica. Haak, Paris, Leiden 1756–62.
• Ornithologia sive Synopsis methodica sistens avium divisionem in ordines, sectiones, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates. Bauche, Paris, Leiden 1760–63.
• Supplementum Ornithologiæ sive Citationes, descriptionesque antea omissæ & species de novo adjectæ, ad suaquaque genera redactæ. Paris 1760.
• Lettres de deux Espagnols sur les manufactures. Vergera 1769.
• Dictionnaire raisonné de physique. Thou, Paris 1781–1800.
• Observations sur les nouvelles découvertes aërostatiques. Lamy, Paris 1784.
• Pesanteur spécifique des corps. Paris 1787.
• Traité élémentaire ou Principes de physique. Moutard & Bossange, Paris 1789–1803.
• Trattato elementare ovvero Principi di fisica. Grazioli, Florenz 1791.
• Die spezifischen Gewichte der Körper. Leipzig 1795.
• Suplemento al Diccionario universal de física. Cano, Madrid 1796–1802.
• Principes élémentaires de l'histoire naturelle et chymique des substances minérales. Paris 1797.
• Anfangsgründe der Naturgeschichte und Chemie der Mineralien. Mainz 1799.
• Instruction sur les nouveaux poids et mesures. Paris 1799.
• Elémens ou Principes physico-chymiques. Bossange, Paris 1800.
• Elements of the natural history and chymical analysis of mineral substances. Ritchie, Walker, Vernor & Hood, London 1800.
• Tratado elemental ó principios de física. Madrid 1803/04.

External links

• Gallica has a free digital download of Brisson, Mathurin-Jacques Ornithologia sive Synopsis methodica sistens avium divisionem in ordines, sectiones, genera, species, ipsarumque varietates Leiden (1760-1763) in Microforme The French word for Search is Recherche.