dvocate, and
having made himself conspicuous in opposition during the last days of the
empire, was appointed deputy-mayor of Paris after its overthrow. He was
elected to the Assembly on the 8th of February 1871, as a member of the
extreme Left. While not approving of the Commune, he was the first to
propose amnesty for the condemned (on the 13th of September 1871), but the
proposal was voted down. He strongly supported obligatory primary
education, and was a firm anti-clerical. He was president of the chamber
from 1881--replacing Gambetta--to March 1885, when he became prime minister
upon the resignation of Jules Ferry; but he resigned when, after the
general elections of that year, he only just obtained a majority for the
vote of credit for the Tongking expedition. He remained conspicuous as a
public man, took a prominent part in exposing the Panama scandals, was a
powerful candidate for the presidency after the murder of President Carnot
in 1894, and was again president of the chamber from December 1894 to 1898.
In June of the latter year he formed a cabinet when the country was
violently excited over the Dreyfus affair; his firmness and honesty
increased the respect in which he was already held by good citizens, but a
chance vote on an occasion of especial excitement overthrew his ministry in
October. As one of the leaders of the radicals he actively supported the
ministries of Waldeck-Rousseau and Combes, especially concerning the laws
on the religious orders and the separation of church and state. In 1899 he
was a candidate for the presidency. In May 1906 he was elected president of
the chamber of deputies by 500 out of 581 votes.

BRISSON, MATHURIN JACQUES (1723-1806), French zoologist and natural
philosopher, was born at Fontenay le Comte on the 30th of April 1723. The
earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history, his
published works in this department including _Le Regne animal_ (1756) and
_Ornithologie_ (1760). After the death of R.A.F. Reaumur (1683-1757), whose
assistant he was, he abandoned natural history, and was appointed professor
of natural philosophy at Navarre and later at Paris. His most important
work in this department was his _Poids specifiques des corps_ (1787), but
he published several other books on physical subjects which were in
considerable repute for a time. He died at Croissy near Paris, on the 23rd
of June 1806.

BRISSOT, JACQUES PIERRE (1754-1793), who assumed the