94 Biographical Sketch of Alexander Brongniart. 



and most practical, which had been published on this science, 

 hitherto so difficult of access. There was remarked in it, 

 what we remark in it still, a peculiar originality of exposi- 

 tion, and a penetrating cleai'ness, worthy of forming a model 

 to others desirous of rendering the sciences level to the ca- 

 pacity of youth. This work was of important service, and 

 became the text-book, assiduously improved, of the instruc- 

 tions which M. Brongniart for a long time gave to the Fa- 

 culty of Sciences, as assistant to M. Haiiy, and which he 

 continued in ihe Museum of Natural History, when he was 

 called to replace this illustrious master in that establishment. 



But M. Brongniart did not confine himself to mineralogy. 

 His woi'ks exhibit the same variety as his studies. He long 

 continued to occupy himself with zoology, in which his first 

 undertakings have not been forgotten. It is to him that we 

 ai'e indebted for the division of reptiles into four orders ; 

 and the naturalists of the whole world have adopted after 

 him, according to the example of Cuvier, the names of Sau- 

 rians, Batrachians, Chelonians, and Opliidians — names which 

 now appear so natural, that we often repeat them without 

 remembering who was their author. At a later period he 

 likewise created the name Trilobites, and fixed the basis of 

 classification for these singular Crustacea, strangers to all 

 modern creations, in a learned memoir Avhich has been the 

 starting point for all the works relating to this immense 

 family. 



Independently of the honour he derived from them, M. 

 Brongniart owed perhaps to his zoological labours one of the 

 happinesses of his life, his intimate connection with the illus- 

 trious author of the Regne Animal and of comparative ana- 

 tomy. When M. Cuvier was brought to Paris, M. Brong- 

 niart appreciated from the first the high caste of his intel- 

 lect. He soon became one of his most faithful friends and 

 most sincere admirers ; and this noble feeling continued, in 

 the greatest intensity, to the last day of his life. But he did 

 not confine himself to admiration, and he was enabled to 

 contribute, in his own proper sphere, to one of his friend's 

 greatest works. 



The masters of science have declared, that Cuvier's dis- 



