Quotes:Bonnet, Charles

Zirkoff, Boris

Bonnet, Charles. Swiss naturalist and philosopher, b. at Geneva, March 13, 1720; d. May 20, 1793. Belonged to a French family. Educated for the profession of law and became a lawyer, but his favorite pursuit was the study of natural sciences. Member of the Acad, of Sciences, 1740, and of the Royal Society, 1743; doctor of law in the same year. His life was uneventful and he seems never to have left Switzerland. He was a member of the Council of the republic, 1752-68. In 1745 appeared his Traite d’insectologie (Paris: Durand), and in 1754 his Recherch.es sur I’usage des Jeuilles dans lesplantes (Leyden, E. Luzac, 1754), in which he suggested that plants possess sensation and discernment. Very poor eyesight caused Bonnet to turn to philosophy, and he published anonymously in London his Essai de psychologie, 1754, followed soon by his Essai analytique sur les facultes de l’ame (Copenhague, 1760), mainly on the physiological conditions of mental activity. In his Contemplation de la nature (Amsterdam, 1764-65. 2 vols. 8-vo), he sets forth the hierarchy of all creatures, and in *La palingenesie philosophique (Geneva, 1769-70. 2 vols. 8-vo) treats of the past and future state of living beings, supporting the idea of the survival of all animals. Bonnet’s complete works appeared at Neuchatel, 1779-83, partly revised by himself.

Source: Boris de Zirkoff, «H. P. Blavatsky Collected Writings», vol. 7, p. 359