140 MEMOIK OF CUVIER. 



mitting- researclies, Lis voluminous and important -works, it seems astonisliing that 

 a single life could liave sufficed for so much. But, besides the superior faculties of 

 his understanding, he possessed an ardent curiosity which impelled him to the pur- 

 suit of all knowledge ; a memory which partook of the wonderful, and a facility 

 even still more wonderful of passing from one labor to another immediately, 

 without effort ; a singular faculty, and which, perhaps, contributed more than 

 any other to nudtiply his time and his energy. Moreover, no one ever made so 

 thorough, and, if I may thus express myself, so methodical a study of the art of 

 not losing a single moment. Each hour had its stated labor ; each labor had 

 a cabinet whicl) was destined for it, and in which all was found that related to 

 that labor; books, drawings, objects. Everything was prepared, everything 

 foreseen, so that no external cause might intervene to distract or retard the mind 

 in the com-se of its meditations and researches. The address of M. Cuvier was 

 grave, and his was not a politeness which dift'used itself in words, but he possessed 

 a goodness of heart and a kindness which were prone to proceed always directly 

 to action. It might be said that in this kind also he dreaded anj^ loss of time. 



I need not, in concluding, recall to my auditors that death, so much deplored 

 and so sudden, which surprised him in the midst of so many labors and great 

 desio-ns. That event is too recent, the remembrance too painful, and the regrets 

 of his colleagues in this Academy, still vivid and profound, are the homage most 

 worthv of his memory.* Besides, in mj^ feeble sketch of the labors of this great 

 man, I have less considered the man than the savant. I have chiefly sought to 

 retrace that series of sublime truths for which the sciences are indebted to his 

 genius, a genius which is henceforth immortal. 



His glory must increase with the progress of the sciences which he created. 

 Time, Avhich effaces so many other names, perpetuates and surrounds with an 

 ever renovated lustre the memory of those rare individuals who seem to have 

 revealed new activities in the intellect, and to have given new forces to thought. 

 And us their minds, outstripping their age, had posterity chiefly in view, so it is 

 only posterity, it is only the succession of ages, from which they can expect all 

 the gratitude and admiration which is due to them. 



» M. Cuvier died Sunday, May 13, 1832. 



