BRISSON, Mathurin Jacques, a French zoologist and natural philosopher, was born at Fontenay-le-Comte, 3d April 1723. He studied for the church, but did not take orders, as his inclination led him towards the study of natural science. He became assistant to the celebrated Réaumur, and in 1756 published the first volume of his work on the animal kingdom, containing an account of the quadrupeds and cetacea. Of his other works on natural history the most important was the Ornithologie, 6 vols., 1760. After the death of Réaumur and the amalgamation of his museum with the royal cabinet, Brisson gave up the study of natural history and devoted himself to physical science. He obtained an appointment as professor in the college of Navarre, and was made instructor of the royal family in natural philosophy. Several text-books on physics were published by him, and were in considerable repute for a time, but his most important piece of work was the Tables of Specific Gravities, published in 1787. Brisson died in 1806.