xxiv.] GEORGES CUVIER. 231 



tary of public instruction, peer of France, perpetual 

 secretary of the Academy of Science, etc., etc., while 

 Agassiz limited himself all his life entirely and exclus- 

 ively to natural history. Both possessed an extraordi- 

 nary memory, and both were remarkably gifted with the 

 faculty of order ; both were capable of long labour, and 

 at the same time both worked with great facility. With 

 them work was always easy. They did it without effort ; 

 it was natural to them. But neither was inventive ; 

 both saw facts and observed them sharply, but neither 

 thought to link them by theories calculated to conduct 

 to the discovery of other facts. They were " terre 

 a terre" naturalists, while Lamarck, Geoff roy Saint- 

 Hilaire, Darwin, Huxley, looked forward to the future, 

 prophesying, and always ready to call to their help 

 suppositions and probabilities. 



Physically, Cuvier and Agassiz resembled each other 

 in possessing enormous heads and largely developed 

 brains, while neither Lamarck nor Darwin were ab- 

 normal as regards size and development of the head. 

 In a crowd Cuvier and Agassiz always attracted atten- 

 tion, and were distinguished at once as uncommonly 

 fine-looking men, while Lamarck, Darwin, and Huxley 

 passed unnoticed. 



Agassiz did not possess the original ideas, or the 

 great sagacity, or the depth of view of Cuvier. He did 

 not open new roads to natural history, but he enlarged 

 greatly all those which were pointed out by others. If 

 Cuvier had an enormous influence on the future of 

 science and on the savants themselves, Agassiz had 

 more influence on the masses ; he made science more 



