552 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



natural history. Yet this year be has come out with four volumes on fish, and 

 eight more will appear in two years. lie has received between 2,000 and 

 2,200 for it, whereas no other person in Paris could persuade a librarian to pub- 

 lish one volume for nothing. He is also publishing another edition of his ' Regne 

 Animal,' and other things. He has been very obliging to me, for, on my apply- 

 ing for casts of animals for .Mantell, who has been begging in vain for a long 

 time, he gave me an order for whatever I liked ; so I have sent off from the 

 museum a huge box with casts of every thing." 



"I got into Cv/oier'a sanctum sanctorum yesterday, and it is truly char- 



acteristic of the man. In every part it displays that extraordinary power of 

 methodizing which is the grand secret of the prodigious feats which he per- 

 forms annually without appearing to give himself the least trouble. But, before 

 I introduce you to his study, I should tell you that there is first the museum of 

 natural history opposite his house, and admirably arranged by himself ; then the 

 anatomy museum, connected with his dwelling. In the latter is a library dis- 

 posed in a suite of rooms, each containing works on one subject. There is one 

 where there are all the works on ornithology, in another room all on ichthyol- 

 ogy, in another osteology, in another law books (!) etc., etc. When he is en- 

 gaged in such works as require continual reference to a variety of authors, he 

 has a stove shifted into one of these rooms, in which everything on that subject 

 is systematically arranged, so that in the same work he often takes the round of 

 many apartments. But the ordinary studio contains no book-shelves. It is a 

 longish room, comfortably furnished, lighted from above, and furnished with 

 eleven desks to stand to, and two low tables, like a public office for so many 

 clerks. But all is for the one man, who multiplies himself as author, and, admit- 

 ting no one into this room, moves as he finds necessary, or as fancy inclines him, 

 from one occupation to another. Each desk is furnished with a complete establish- 

 ment of inkstands, pens, pins to pin manuscripts of the same work, etc. There 

 is a separate bell to several desks. The low tables are to sit to when he is tired. 

 The collaborateurs are not numerous, but always chosen well. They save him 

 every mechanical labor, find references, etc., are rarely admitted to the study, 

 receive orders, and speak not." 



" Brongniart, who in imitation of Cuvier has many clerks and collabo- 



rateurs, is known to lose more time in organizing this auxiliary force than he 

 gains by their work, but this is never the case with Cuvier. "When I went to 

 get Mantell's casts, I found that the man who made molds, and the painter of 

 them, had distinct apartments, so that there was no confusion, and the dispatch 

 with which all was executed was admirable. It cost Cuvier a word only." 



