170 Eloge of Baron Cuvier. 



nor notices, almost always incomplete, of their discoveries; but 

 it is the intimate knowledge of their individuality, the pleasure 

 of being admitted, so to speak, into their society, of contemplat- 

 ing their qualities, their virtues, and even their defects, which 

 render these elogiums the most interesting, and at the same time 

 the most useful, kind of reading. These few lines point out 

 to me a duty which I ought to endeavour to fulfil, although as- 

 sured how far short I shall fall of the models which he cites, or 

 those which he has himself supplied. 



Let us contemplate him in the Jardin des Plantes, where he was 

 established for nearly forty years, and to which he attached, so to 

 speak, his very existence, near the Museum of Natural History, 

 and the Cabinet of Comparative Anatomy, the latter of which 

 owed its existence to his exertions ; in the centre of this esta- 

 blishment, which is without its equal in the world, where the 

 most enlightened and those most desirous to learn may find 

 equal enjoyment and instruction ; in the midst of a series of 

 libraries arranged so as to facilitate the researches which the as- 

 tonishing variety of his occupations obliged him to pursue ; in 

 this extensive cabinet, were to be found, on the Saturday of 

 each week, during a period of so many years, not only the men 

 whose works have done honour to France, but the most illus- 

 trious names which Europe possessed, as well as travellers from 

 every quarter of the globe, — from the Indies, the Ohio, the 

 banks of the Amazon, New Holland, and the icy seas — who 

 never failed, even when on the most cursory visit to our capital, 

 to visit the great naturalist, with whom for the most part they 

 had previously been in terms of correspondence. 



How much intellectual enjoyment must have resulted from 

 such an assemblage, where the free interchange of sentiment 

 among men of kindred inclinations, and who could appreciate 

 each other's worth, formed a bond of connection which every one 

 wished more strongly to confirm. In this meeting of cele- 

 brated men, which brought together young and old, masters and 

 scholars, from every corner of the earth, how unaffectedly and 

 becomingly did M. Cuvier fill the place he occupied ? His 

 grave, but not severe aspect, — his obliging attention in hearing 

 those who would willingly have listened to him, — that incredible 

 variety of knowledge, which not only enabled him to take part 



