CUVIER AND STRUCTURAL ZOOLOGY 65 



feature of Cuvier's mind. In his investigations he 

 covered the whole field of animal organization from 

 the lowest to the highest, and combining his results 

 with what had been accomplished by earlier workers, 

 he established comparative anatomy on broad lines 

 as an independent branch of natural science. 



Cuvier represents the beginning of that side of 

 zoology that reached its highest development in 

 Karl Gegenbaur (1826-1903) and Max Fiirbringer of 

 Germany, in Owen (1804-1892) and Huxley (1825- 

 1895) of Great Britain, and in Joseph Leidy (1823- 

 1891) and E. D. Cope (1840-1897) of the United 

 States. His intellectual heirs in France were H. 

 Milne-Edwards (1800-1885) and Lacaze-Duthiers 

 (1821-1901). 



Notwithstanding all his mental gifts, Cuvier was 

 not able to appreciate the most important contribu- 

 tion made to zoology in his period, by his distin- 

 guished contemporary and fellow-worker, Lamarck. 

 He became a strong opponent of the theory of organic 

 evolution of which Lamarck was the founder (1801 

 and 1809) in its modern sense. How completely 

 Cuvier's opposition served to hold in check the 

 progress of this fruitful idea in France is well recog- 

 nized. 



