3S8 Eloge of Baron Cuvier. 



this important part of the public administration. The man of 

 the state by whom the plan had been elaborated, faithful to the 

 good sense which forms an important element of genius, con- 

 fined himself, as was usual with him, to what was simple, prac- 

 tical, and consequently truly useful ; and it is to this cause that 

 his labours owe their success. The higher branches of learning 

 received a similar service from M. Cuvier, by an establishment 

 destined for the support of professors disabled from age or 

 sickness ; an institution which was at the same time a nursery, 

 from which the faculties selected candidates to fill the different 

 chairs. It is hkewise owing to his exertions that France has 

 enjoyed, for a considerable period, a faculty or school of instruc- 

 tion for teaching the branches of knowledge which have an im- 

 mediate relation to the art of government. 



I have already mentioned, that the want and advantages of 

 such an institution had occurred to him at an early period. He 

 formed the plan of it in 1821 ; but was prevented from carry- 

 ing it into effect, by the retirement of the minister in conjunc- 

 tion with whom it had been prepared. The^management of the 

 protestant schools, of which he took a particular charge, received 

 under his direction obvious improvements : and he was engaged 

 in collecting the requisite information for drawing up the rules 

 which were necessary for regulating the discipline of the protes- 

 tant churches. To conclude this sketch of his active and use- 

 ful labours, I may add that, for a long period, the state of public 

 feeling in France, regarding the place which M. Cuvier occupied 

 in the University, has been such, that it could not be conceived 

 of apart from him. He superintended all the branches of know- 

 ledge which it was appointed to diffuse, uniting in his own per- 

 son the studies of several lives, the knowledge of many men, 

 and never bending under the weight of this astonishing and di- 

 versified mass of knowledge. His clear and powerful intellect 

 which acquired it without effort, communicated it to others with 

 equal facility. Of this all can bear witness who have had the 

 happiness to enjoy his rich and instructive conversation ; and 

 where is the youth possessed of any love for science, who was 

 not permitted to avail himself of it ? — Let us now bestow a 

 brief consideration on his appearance in the Council of State. 

 To be continued. 



