178 MEMOIR OF DUCROTAY DE BLAINVILLE. 



two are perliaps tlie only metliodical writers wliose fire is not extinguished in 

 the treatment of details. Linnaeus gives life to those details by inventiveness of 

 expression ; De Blainville animates them in another manner, by making them 

 the vehicle of his preconceived and impassioned ideas.* 



From zoology De Blainville passed without delay to comparative anatomy. 

 In these galleries, then so new, everything recalled to him the profound admi- 

 ration which he had felt when, confounded in the crowd, he had for the first time 

 heard the eloquent voice of the inspired restorer of the ancient science of Aris- 

 totle.t But this admiration itself awaked all his critical instincts, and already the 

 daring resolution was formed within him of some day venturing upon opposi- 

 tion. Wiiile he was thus musing upon the grounds of dissent and independence, 

 the penetrating regards of the man of genius had more than once rested upon 

 him. Cuvier coveted for science such proselytes ; he sought them out, welcomed 

 them, opened to them his house and library, gave them a share in his affections, 

 and all in the utmost good faith, so long as they remained satellites of his re- 

 nown ; but when, once become strong, they ventured to contest the jpart of the 

 lion, the alliance was broken. 



One day, De Blainville, absorbed in meditation, saw Cuvier approach him — 

 the great Cuvier, then at the apogee of his brilliant career. " I have a proposal 

 to make to you," said the man of science to him whom labor alone had as yet 

 designated to him, and whom he addressed for the first time. " Are you dis- 

 posed to unite your efforts with mine in the eompletion of a great work on com- 

 parative anatomy with which I have been occupied for a long time? You shall 

 have a share in my success : we shall aid one another." Tempted by the gratifi- 

 cation which a man of merit feels at being appreciated, appreciated, too, by a 

 superior intelligence, De Blainville promptly accepted the ojffer of collaboration. 

 No sooner, however, was he thus established in the first rank among the disci- 

 ples, many of them already celebrated, who lent their efforts to the execution 

 of Avorks whose jirojection belonged exclusively to the mastei", than M. de 

 Blainville, who could never bear even the shadow of subordination, £ave place 

 in his bosom to the feelings of a jealous susceptibility. He took umorage, com- 

 plained with acrimony, and was heard with indulgence, even with kindness ; for 

 much should be pai doned to him who merits much. But from the time that the 

 right of censure was conceded, the intractable disciple established it on so wide 

 a base that M. Cuvier used to say pleasantly: "Ask M, de Blainville his 

 opinion on any subject whatever, or even simply say to him good day, and his 

 reply will be, * No.' " 



Compelled to a state of permanent warfare, Cuvier at least knew how to profit 

 by it ; it discovered to him all the exposed points of his doctrines ; all Avere 

 promptly seized upon by a watchful antagonist, who, in these attacks, seemed 

 charged with the ofiice of those priests of antiquity who daily repeated to kings, 

 in the midst of their grandeur. Forget not that you are men. lu requital of 

 services so gratuitously rendered, the master, at once judicious and adroit, neg- 

 lected nothing to promote the interests of this singular collaborator. After having 

 for ten years fulfilled a course at the athenaeum, he asked the succession for De 

 Blainville ; selected him to supply his appointments at the College of France 

 and the Museum; and when the faculty of sciences was to choose a professor of 

 anatomy and zoology, took care to environ him as a candidate with all the means 

 of success. M. de Blainville was nominated, and, with independence thus 

 secured, acquired an absolute liberty of opposition which he used by no means 

 sparingly. 



* Since he proceeds from ideas to facts, each new detail found is necessarily, as regjarda 

 the preconceived idea which guides him, a peril or a proof ; there is no room for indifference. 



t M. de Blainville himself cheerfully acknowleged that the brilliant success of Cuvier 

 as a professor had greatly contributed to the impulse which directed all his own energies 

 towards natural history. 



