346 Ehge of' Bar mi Cuvter. 



blishment of literary and scientific institutions was now becoming 

 an object of attention. He repaired thither in the spring of 

 1795, and nearly at the same time, by the intervention of M. 

 Mellin, he was appointed a member of the Commission of Arts, 

 and shortly after Professor to the Central School of the Pan- 

 theon. For this situation he was chiefly indebted to M. Jessier. 

 It was for this school that he prepared the first work which the 

 public knew to be his, under the title of Tableau Elementaire 

 de VHisto'ire Naturelle des Animaux. His principal object, 

 however, was not yet attained : he wished to enter the Museum 

 of Natural History, which alone could furnish him with the 

 means of realizing the scientific plans which were already ma- 

 tured in his mind. This satisfaction was not long withheld ; 

 a Professor who had obtained the newly established chair of 

 Comparative Anatomy., and whose advanced age unfitted him 

 to teach a science which was new to him^ yielded to the entreaty 

 of his colleagues MM. de Jussieu, Geoffroy, and Lacepede, and 

 accepted of M. Cuvier to supply his place. You cannot fail to 

 remark, gentlemen, the number of eminent men who conspired 

 to promote his interests, actuated by a noble emulation, and a 

 generous ardour for science, which exempted them from the 

 petty jealousies which would have been excited in inferior minds 

 by the appearance of a new rival in their own sphere of ex- 

 cellence. 



Having thus attained to the object of his desire, M. Cuvier 

 had no other ambition than to shew himself worthy of the con- 

 fidence placed in him. He laboured incessantly to form, for 

 the use of comparative anatomy, the collection which is now 

 known throughout all Europe ; and the lectures by which 

 he rendered it so useful, soon attracted a numerous concourse 

 of auditors, who spread his fame to a distance as an eminent 

 teacher. These lectures have since been published. This was 

 the first grand epoch of M. Cuvier's life ; and here I begin to 

 feel the great difficulties of the task which I have imposed on 

 myself. It was greatly more easy, gentlemen, to speak to you 

 of his infancy and early youth, than to trace his progress to the 

 height of scientific eminence, where he maintained an undis- 

 puted pre-eminence for forty-seven years ; or to present him to 

 your view in the midst of a multiplicity of occupations, the mi- 

 nutest details of which his enthusiasm did not permit him to 



