Baron Cuvicr on the -itaic o/' Natural History. 9 



liight'i* orders of society. Prince Maximilian of Neuwied has 

 been exceeded by none in courage, in patience, or in the num- 

 ber and interest of the objects which he has collected in Brazil. 

 Prince Paul William of Wurtemberg, leaving Europe at the 

 age of twenty-three, ascending as far as the upper Mississippi 

 and the great lakes^ and trusting himself to the most savage 

 tribes, has explored the central parts of North America more 

 completely than they ever were before. What is already known 

 of his discoveries excites the most lively desire to see them 

 soon published. 



Even persons engaged in commerce no longer despise this 

 kind of riches. There are some who, along with their account- 

 books, keep journals of their scientific observations. M. Dussu- 

 mier, a young merchant and shipmaster of Bordeaux, who has 

 made several voyages to China, has never failed to bring each 

 time his tribute to the Museum. His returns are there expect- 

 ed and marked as at the custom-house or exchange. 



For a long time naturalists in vain sought for accurate infor- 

 mation respecting the great Cetacea, which it is so difficult to 

 examine, and still more to place in our cabinets. It was the 

 master of a private vessel. Captain Scoresby, who furnished it, 

 and that, too, in the most complete and precise manner. 



By a revolution of entirely the same nature, the European 

 settlements in the two worlds are now becoming foci of intelli- 

 gence which rival those of Europe. We have nothing better 

 executed than Russell's descriptions of the serpents and fishes 

 of Bengal, or Buchanan's fishes of the Ganges, the figures of 

 which were drawn by natives. M. Dussumier had drawings of 

 plants made by Chinese painters at Canton, of which the pupils 

 of M. Iledoute would not be ashamed. Wilson's Birds of the 

 United States, drawn, engraved, and printed in that country, and 

 by artists of that country, do not yield to our most beautiful col- 

 lections; and there is no difference, as to solidity and authen- 

 ticity, between the descriptions which are sent us by the natives 

 of these great colonies, the Bartons and Mitchells, and those which 

 we draw up ourselves. The botanic garden of the English East 

 India Company at Calcutta, under the direction of Dr Wallich, 

 has become as large and as beautiful as any of ours, at the same 



