522 HISTORY OF GEOLOGY. 



of thought and activity of mind, unfolding itself exactly in proportion 

 to the facts with which it had to deal. "We are reminded of that 

 cyclopean architecture in which each stone, as it occurs, is, with 

 wonderful ingenuity, and with the least possible alteration of its form, 

 shaped so as to fit its place in a solid and lasting edifice. 



Different yet again was the character (as a geological discoverer) 

 of the great naturalist of the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 

 that part of his labors of which we have now to speak, Cuvier's 

 dominant ideas were rather physiological than geological. In his 

 views of past physical changes, he did not seek to include any ranges 

 of facts which lay much beyond the narrow field of the Paris basin. 

 But his sagacity in applying his own great principle of the Conditions 

 of Existence, gave him a peculiar and unparalleled power in inter- 

 preting the most imperfect fossil records of extinct anatomy. In the 

 constitution of his mind, all philosophical endowments were so 

 admirably developed and disciplined, that it was difficult to say, 

 whether more of his power was due to genius or to culture. The 

 talent of classifying which he exercised in geology, was the result of 

 the most complete knowledge and skill in zoology ; while his views 

 concerning the revolutions which had taken place in the organic and 

 inorganic world, were in no small degree aided by an extraordinary 

 command of historical and other literature. His guiding ideas had 

 been formed, his facts had been studied, by the assistance of all the 

 sciences which could be made to bear upon them. In his geological 

 labors we seem to see some beautiful temple, not only firm and fair in 

 itself, but decorated with sculpture and painting, and rich in all that 

 art and labor, memory and imagination, can contribute to its beauty. 



[2nd Ed.] [Sir Charles Lyell (B. i. c. iv.) has quoted with approval 

 what I have elsewhere said, that the advancement of three of the 

 main divisions of geology in the beginning of the present century was 

 promoted principally by the three great nations of Europe, the Ger- 

 man, the English, and the French : Mineralogical Geology by the 

 German school of Werner : Secondary Geology by Smith and his 

 English successors; Tertiary Geology by Cuvier and his fellow-la- 

 ( borers in France.] 



