CUV IKK. L37 



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singular pachyderms of the neighbourhood of Paris; 

 the third the mammoth, mastodon, gigantic sloths, 

 &c. ; then came a fourth, the age of man and the 

 present creation. Anterior to the first epoch was a 

 period in which no organic life, either animal or 

 vegetable, existed on the earth. To Cuvier was 

 principally due the discovery and exploration of the 

 terra incognita of remote ages. 



In 1817 was published the " Regne Animal," 

 which has served as the basis for subsequent zoologi- 

 cal classifications. The last great work of Cuvier, 

 which he undertook in conjunction with Valenciennes, 

 is the " Histoire Naturelle des Poissons." This 

 contains the application of his principles of classifi- 

 cation to class of fish. Linnaeus had determined 

 about 500 species, Lapecede 1,500. The title of this 

 book implies its magnitude. It is " Natural History 

 of Fishes, Containing more than 5,000 Species of these 

 Animals, Described after Nature and Distributed 

 according to their Affinities, with Observations on 

 their Anatomy, and Critical Researches on their 

 Nomenclature, Ancient as well as Modern." 



Besides the " Report on the Progress of the Physical 

 Sciences," undertaken at the request of Napoleon. 

 Cuvier displayed the extent of his acquirements by his 

 reports before the Institute, on meteorology and natural 

 philosophy, in general chemistry and physios, mine- 

 ralogy and geology, botany, anatomy, and physiology, 

 zoology, travels connected with natural science, medi- 

 cine, surgery, and other subjects. 



He contributed many articles on natural history to 



