124 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



He found in Cuvier, however, a generous friend and 

 admirer, and was so delighted with his talents, that 

 he afterwards wrote of him to Jussien in terms of the 

 highest commendation. 



Through his acquaintance with M. Tessier, he began 

 a correspondence with Greonroy St. Hilaire, Lapecede, 

 and other Parisian savants on subjects of natural 

 history ; and in the spring of 1795 he accepted their 

 invitation to go to Paris, and was appointed professor 

 in the central school of the Pantheon, for which he is 

 said to have composed his " Tableau elementaire de 

 l'Histoire NatureUe des Animaux," in which he first 

 published his ideas on zoological arrangement. 



M. Mertrud had been appointed professor of com- 

 parative anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes. Feeling 

 himself unable from age to discharge all its duties, 

 he called upon Cuvier to assist him, who at this time 

 invited his brother Frederic to. join him, and com- 

 menced the collection of comparative anatomy, which 

 has since become so famous and extensive. 



In 1796 the National Institute was formed, and 

 Ouvier was associated with Lapecede and Daubenton 

 in the section of zoology, and was its third secretary. 

 The death of Daubenton, at the close of 1799, made 

 vacant for Cuvier the chair of natural history at the 

 College de France in 1800, and in 1802 he succeeded 

 Mertrud as professor of comparative anatomy at the 

 Jardin des Plantes. 



In 1796 he announced his discovery of red blood 

 in leeches, and in the following year he read his cele- 

 brated paper on the nutrition of insects. 



