APPENDIX. 331 



paree, les Recherches sur les Ossements Fossiles, and le 

 Rcgne Animal. In the first, Cuvier added numerous 

 observations to the incomplete details which had been 

 collected before his time, arranging the different elements 

 into one great systematic whole, and thus substituting 

 a science in the place of a mere mass of scattered facts. 

 In the second, he appears as the sole creator and founder 

 of a perfect science — Palaeontology. He styled himself 

 the Antiquaire d'uiie espece noiivelle ; and it was in this 

 character that he explored the bowels of the earth, in 

 whose ancient archives he discovered the traces of ex- 

 tinct Faunas, which appeared to be revivified at his voice, 

 in order to reveal to us the revolutions of the globe 

 which we inhabit. In his third work, he comprehended 

 the entire animal creation, and endeavoured, for the 

 first time, to introduce into zoology a classification 

 founded on the natural method, which should, as far as 

 possible, serve as the expression of the science, and as 

 the surest means of advancing its progress. Yet these 

 three works were in his eyes mere preparatory labours, or 

 rather notes and data for that Grande Anatomie which 

 was always present in his mind, but which he was never 

 able to complete ; for a savant is, perhaps, less able to 

 realise his ideal than even the artist. 



Cuvier died without leaving any children. He had 

 married Madame Duvaucel, the widow of a former 

 fermier-general* Two sons and two daughters resulted 

 from this marriage, but they all died in early life. 



* In the reign of terror, twewty-ei^tfermiers-generaux were put 

 to death on the 8th of May, 1794, and amongst them was Lavoisier, 

 the founder of modern chemistry, who was, moreover, a man of true 

 genius. It is well known that when some of his friends made a 

 faint attempt to save his life, one of the rulers of the day exclaimed, 

 " The French republic has no need of savants to conquer her 

 enemies." 



