Cuvier as a Naturalist. '^MB 



George Chretien Frederic Dagobert Cuvier was born 

 on the 23d August 1769, at Montbeliard, the chief town of a 

 principality belonging at that time to the Dukes of Wurtem- 

 berg. His parents were by no means in affluent circumstances, 

 and, like many of the eminent men whose history he has dehneat- 

 ed, he had to struggle in his youth with misfortune. 



His father, after forty years of distinguished service in a 

 Swiss regiment in the pay of France, found himself possessed 

 of only a moderate pension for the support of his family ; and 

 the young Cuvier, that he might not be a burden to his pa- 

 rents, was obhged, immediately after completing his studies, 

 when about the age of nineteen, to engage in the humble occu- 

 pation of tutor in an ancient family of Normandy. This step, 

 which such of his friends as could appreciate his rising genius 

 regarded with sorrow, proved, notwithstanding, the origin of his 

 fortune. In this way destiny often leads us to success by a path 

 which, to our limited views, seems to remove us to the greatest 

 distance from it. 



Endowed with a memory of extraordinary power, and a sin- 

 gular aptitude for every kind of intellectual labour, he had 

 shewn from a very early period a decided taste for natural 

 history and drawing, the latter of which he always regarded as 

 the most certain means of facilitating the study of this science. 

 A copy of BufFon having fallen into his hands, when he was 

 about ten years of age, he read it with avidity, and never rested 

 till he copied all the figures, and coloured them according to the 

 descriptions. 



His taste for these studies was confirmed at the academy of 

 Stuttgard, where he had been placed by Duke Charles of Wur- 

 temberg, on the report of his brilliant talents. While he-Studied 

 every branch taught in this celebrated institution, philosophy, 

 mathematics, law, &c.; he attended more particularly to the course 

 of natural history, and occupied himself during his walks in 

 forming an herbarium and a collection of insects. His inter- 

 course with his fellow-pupils, particularly with M. Kielmeyer, 

 the father of natural philosophy, contributed largely to his ra- 

 pid progress in every department of natural history.* 



• It is a circumstance worthy of remark, that M. Cuvier (in some re- 

 spects the disciple of Kielmeyer, for being younger, he greedily treasured up 

 his conversations, and learnt from him the art of dissection,) may be consi- 



