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Quote by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

“In general, the more one augments the number of divisions of the productions of nature, the more one approaches the truth, since in nature only individuals exist, while genera, orders, and classes only exist in our imagination.”

Quote by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

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Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, was a French naturalist, mathematician, and encyclopedist. He is renowned for his comprehensive work on natural history, 'Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière', which was a cornerstone of the Enlightenment. more

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“There are several kinds of truths, and it is customary to place in the first order mathematical truths, which are, however, only truths of definition. These definitions rest upon simple, but abstract, suppositions, and all truths in this category are only constructed, but abstract, consequences of these definitions ... Physical truths, to the contrary, are in no way arbitrary, and do not depend on us.”

Way Firsts Kind Truth Order Simple Depends Consequence Mathematics Definitions Contrary Mathematical Abstract Categories Arbitrary Supposition

Author:Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

“And yet in a funny way our lack of success led to our breakthrough; because, since we could not get a cell line off the shelf doing what we wanted, we were forced to construct it. And the original experiment ... developed into a method for the production of hybridomas ... [which] was of more importance than our original purpose.”

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“In the dog two conditions were found to produce pathological disturbances by functional interference, namely, an unusually acute clashing of the excitatory and inhibitory processes, and the influence of strong and extraordinary stimuli. In man precisely similar conditions constitute the usual causes of nervous and psychic disturbances. Different conditions productive of extreme excitation, such as intense grief or bitter insults, often lead, when the natural reactions are inhibited by the necessary restraint, to profound and prolonged loss of balance in nervous and psychic activity.”

“Researchers keep identifying new species, but they have no idea about the life cycle of a given species or its other hosts. They cut open an animal and find a new species. Where did it come from? What effect does it have on its host? What is its next host? They don't know and they don't have time to find out, because there are too many other species waiting to be discovered and described.”

Knows Doe Ideas Science Next Given Waiting Animal Cutting Effects Discovery Species No Idea Cycles Host Researchers Identifying

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“An Individual, whatever species it might be, is nothing in the Universe. A hundred, a thousand individuals are still nothing. The species are the only creatures of Nature, perpetual creatures, as old and as permanent as it. In order to judge it better, we no longer consider the species as a collection or as a series of similar individuals, but as a whole independent of number, independent of time, a whole always living, always the same, a whole which has been counted as one in the works of creation, and which, as a consequence, makes only a unity in Nature.”

“It appears that all that can be, is. The Creator's hand does not appear to have been opened in order to give existence to a certain determinate number of species, but it seems that it has thrown out all at once a world of relative and non-relative creatures, an infinity of harmonic and contrary combinations and a perpetuity of destructions and replacements. What idea of power is not given us by this spectacle! What feeling of respect for its Author is not inspired in us by this view of the universe!”

“One can descend by imperceptible degree from the most perfect creature to the most shapeless matter, from the best-organised animal to the roughest mineral.”

Matter Science Nature Natural Perfect Animal Creatures Degrees Minerals Organised

Author:Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

“Time is the great workman of Nature.”

Science Time Nature Great Work Workmen

Author:Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

“The greatest marvel is not in the individual. It is in the succession, in the renewal and in the duration of the species that Nature would seem quite inconceivable. This power of producing its likeness that resides in animals and plants, this form of unity, always subsisting and appearing eternal, this procreative virtue which is perpetually expressed without ever being destroyed, is for us a mystery which, it seems, we will never be able to fathom.”

Seems Able Form Science Individual Nature Natural Animal Virtue Mystery Eternal Plant Unity Species Destroyed Renewal Succession Appearing Duration Fathom

Author:Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon

“The hybridoma technology was a by-product of basic research. Its success in practical applications is to a large extent the result of unexpected and unpredictable properties of the method. It thus represents another clear-cut example of the enormous practical impact of an investment in research which might not have been considered commercially worthwhile, or of immediate medical relevance. It resulted from esoteric speculations, for curiosity's sake, only motivated by a desire to understand nature.”