Eloge of Baron Cuvier. 34fllt*. 



neglect; and which, whether they related to public instruction, 

 the deliberations of the Council of State, or the Committee of 

 the Interior, have procured for him the reputation of being one 

 of the most useful;, as he was one of the most illustrious, of 

 citizens. 



That I may proceed with more accuracy and brevity, it is 

 necessary to arrange in some order the extensive materials at my 

 disposal. It would be inexcusable to be destitute of method in 

 speaking of an individual who turned it to such good account. 

 M. Cuvier may be regarded as moving in three different spheres, 

 — that of science and literature, — that of public instruction, — 

 and that of administration. I shall enumerate, with all the 

 care the subject demands, the principal steps which he took in 

 these departments, and endeavour to form an estimate of the va- 

 ried excellences he displayed in each. 



We left M. Cuvier Professor of Comparative Anatomy in 

 the Museum of Natural History. The National Institute was 

 established in 1796; he was soon invited thither, in consequence 

 of the reputation he had acquired by his course of lectures, and 

 the publication of some memoirs. 



At this period the secretaries were temporary, not holding 

 the office longer than two years. He was the third. It was in 

 1800 that Bonaparte, after his return from Egypt, being then 

 First Consul, and aspiring to every kind of glory, assumed the 

 title of President of the Institute. M. Cuvier thus found him- 

 self placed in intimate relationship with that individual, from 

 the time when he began to turn his views towards sovereign 

 power. During this same year M. Daubenton died, and the 

 Professor of Comparative Anatomy was appointed to teach in 

 his room the Philosophy of Natural History. " LVloge de 

 M. Daubenton, de cette celebrite contemporaine et auxiliare de 

 celle de Boffon, ouvre avec une sorte de solennite le recueil de 

 ceux que M. Cuvier a prononces durant les cours de trente- 

 deux ■ annees." 



In 1805^, the First Consul, wishing to remodel the system of 

 public instruction, nominated six general inspectors, to establish 

 lyceums in thirty French towns. In this capacity, M. Cuvier 

 was commissioned to superintend the establishment of the ly- 

 ceums of Marseilles and Bourdeaux, which are now royal col- 

 leges. 



