MEMOIR OF M. ISIDORE GEOFFROY SAINT HILAIRE. 387 



occupy themselves. "We know that these groupings, at first purely methodic, 

 \ii^'Q,Am(.i,sijstcmatic in the hands of Jussieu for vegetables, and of Cuvier for 

 animals. But the latter had deeply felt how mcomplcte are our classifications 

 when we wish to represent the multiplied connexions of living beings.* Isidore 

 Geoffrey had also felt the same, and he tried at least to diminish the imper- 

 fections. 



Linear claasijications, however arranged, never place a being except between 

 two others, that which precedes and that which follows it. Thus they repre- 

 sent only dirc'-t ojfinities ; they are powerless to represent, even impe^'fectly, 

 collateral ajjlnities or zoological analogies. Now the latter have, in a general 

 view, an importance which must naturally have attracted the special attention 

 of our author. He soon perceived, like* some of his predecessors, that the 

 primary zoological groups may be divided into secondary groups, composed of 

 species which correspond to each other, as it were, term by term. He thought, 

 with reason, that these series ought to be represented, and he Avas thus led to 

 that i-iarallellic classification which he has applied especially to the mammifers. 

 However, Isidore Geoffrey, no more than Cuvier, regarded his classification 

 as presenting all the relations of beings with each other. He only saw in it a 

 less imperfect representation of what exists. He has several times expressed 

 himself very clearly on this point, regretting to see his ideas presented in a 

 manner too absolute, by some pupils who had not half miderstood them. Here, 

 as elsewhere, the master was more cautious than his disciples. 



We can only name- the volume entitled Essays on General Zoology, (1845.) 

 It is less a book than a collection of memoirs on distinct subjects, connected 

 only by the common thought indicated by the title. We shall refer to some 

 of them hereafter. 



To construct a general system of zoology was, in fact, the constant object of 

 Isidore Geoffroy. It betrayed itself everywhere, and even his public instruc- 

 tion served to manifest it. At the museum, and still more at the Sorbonne, 

 several of his special courses of lectures were partly devoted to the exposition 

 of ideas connected with this purpose, which never quitted him, even v/hen he 

 seemed farthest from it. • 



But these ideas, as they ripened by incessant study, cxpahded more and 

 more. He perceived that in general questions, living and organized beings 

 cannot be isolated. " Even at the limits of the animal kingdom, the application 

 of the method remains incomplete, the demonstrations for the most part unfin 

 ishcd, the synthesis only partial. "t Thus he v/as led insensibly, and, as it 

 were, in spite of himself, to publish, not a, general zoology, but a General Nat- 

 ural History c/f the Organic Kingdom.^. 



The first volume of this book, which was to be the epitome of the labors of 

 a whole life, appeared in 1854; the second in 1859. The first half of the 

 third volume vv-as published in 1860. This is all that Isidore Geoffroy has 

 been able himself to give to the public. What pious hands have collected will, 

 perhaps, complete this volume and the second part of the work ; the rest io 

 forever lost.| 



It is especially for this reason that the premature death of Isidore Geoffroy 



*The formal declarations inserted by Cuvier in one of his last works on the essential dis- 

 tinctions between the clascifications and the method, has too often been forgotten. — {General 

 History of Fishes, by MM. Cuvier and Valenciennes. — (Introduction fiy Cuvier.) 



t General Natural History of the Organic Kingdoms, preface. 



+This first part extends from Chapter VIU to Chapter XI, inclusive. Besides, the family 

 have found four sheets, entirely corrected and ready for the press ; two partially corrected ; 

 three sheets in the first draught, and a manuscript reaching to the end of Chapter XIX. \Vc 

 may then expect that the third volume will be completed, and that there will, perhaps, only 

 be wantingthe definitive conclusion which an author .sometimes reserves till the last moment, 

 till he has reviewed and reconsidered his work. Hut for the latter parts, the most original of 

 this great work, neither notes nor fragments could bo discovered. All was in the bead of the 

 author. 



