, created under the former regime, the Royal Garden of Medicinal Plants — or the King’s Garden — will be transformed by the Convention into a National Museum of Natural History. Some aspects of the history of establishment in the ‘Enlightenment century’ are discussed here. Three disciplines were taught at the end of the 17th century: chemistry, botanics and anatomy — associated with surgery. Buffon is the great intendent of the ‘Jardin des Lumières’, to whom it confers a prodigious radiation. He gave his fellow daubenton the guardianship of the ‘Cabinet d’Histoire Natural’, whose collections were greatly enriched. Buffon also encourages the shipping of naturalist travellers and recruits valuable teachers. Teachers of the ‘Jardin des Lumières’ include the botanists Le Monnier and the brothers Bernard and Antoine de Jussieu, gardener André Thouin, the red chemists, Macquer and Fourcroy, the anatomists Ferrein and Winslow.