342 Ehge of Bar mi Cuvier. 



self to as short a space as is consistent with the extent of the 

 subject, and the eventful nature of the life which I am called 

 upon to delineate. 



George LeopoldChketien Frederick Dagobert Cuvier 

 was born on the 23d of August 1769, at Montbeliard, a French 

 town, but belonging at that period to the Duke of Wurtemberg. 

 His family originated from a village on the Jura, which still 

 bears the name of Cuvier. His father had retired, after forty 

 years of distinguished service as an officer in a Swiss regiment 

 in the pay of France, from which country he enjoyed a mode- 

 rate pension, and held the command of the artillery at Mont- 

 beliard. It was in this town that the young Cuvier received, 

 under the superintendence of a mother who devoted to him all 

 her care, those elementary instructions which form the basis of 

 all education. He was brought up in the Protestant religion, 

 which was that of his family. From a very early age he gave 

 indications of those mental qualities, the subsequent develop- 

 ment of which rendered his career so famous. He was endowed 

 with a memory of extraordinary power, an instrument of so 

 much value when regulated by a superior understanding. He 

 had likewise an aptitude for drawing. His taste for this art 

 was inspired at twelve years of age by the works of Buff on : it 

 is thus that men of genius excite each other. 



The study of the Greek and Latin languages occasioned 

 him but little difficulty ; the German was attained with equal 

 facility ; and in succession the different modern languages, an 

 acquaintance with which must have been of the highest utility 

 in aiding his scientific researches. He had a passion for every 

 kind of reading, particularly that of history ; and while scarcely 

 beyond the age of infancy, the driest details of nomenclature, 

 and the lengthened lists of sovereigns, princes, and men who, 

 by whatsoever title, ha\e governed the different parts of the 

 world, were so strongly impressed on his mind as to be never 

 afterwards effaced : to these may be added upwards of 2000 

 words, applicable only to the natural sciences, which, when 

 once acquired, never failed to present themselves to his memory 

 whenever he had occasion for their use. At the age of fourteen 

 he had acquired nearly all the instruction which the school of 

 Montbeliard could supply, although conducted with consider- 



