The history of natural history has never been exhibited. It has been written since antiquity and flourished in the 18th century. Georges-Louis Leclerc, future Comte de Buffon and his collaborator Louis-Jean Marie Daubenton, both native of Montbard (Burgundy, Côte-d'Or), will help spread the discipline and spread the naturalist culture throughout Europe. The Age of Enlightenment brought about a revolution in this field, even if speech was not yet free and publications sometimes dangerous for their authors.
The exhibition addresses the scientific and intellectual heritage of Buffon and Daubenton. The first was Intendant of the Jardin du Roy for more than half a century and the second Guard and demonstrator of the Cabinet du Roy and first director of the Muséum d'histoire naturelle in 1794.
Each chapter proposes to make the link between the way of experimenting with the sciences in the eighteenth century and today. It presents in this sense what natural history is today, in its objectives and in the way of experiencing and thinking about nature.