MEMOIR OF CUVIER. 25 



ment of those views which he afterwards extended 

 to the whole animal kingdom. 



He appears to have remained with the family of 

 the Count d'Hericy for nearly seven years, and du- 

 ring that period to have devoted a great portion of his 

 time to the examination of the lower native animals, 

 without receiving much assistance from books, and 

 making drawings and observations only for his private 

 use. Here he also discovered that friend who intro- 

 duced him to the savans of Paris. An agricultural 

 society met in the village of Valmont, in which Cuvier 

 had been intrusted with the office of Secretary : in 

 this society, he discovered by his ability in the de- 

 bates, the author of the articles on Agriculture ic 

 the Encyclopedie Methodique *, who, being sus- 

 pected in Paris, had secretly removed to Caen, to 

 wait in seclusion for more settled times. An inti- 

 macy and friendship were the consequences of this 

 discovery, and M. Tessier introduced him to the 

 notice of Olivier, De la Cepede, Geoffroy St Hilaire, 



* M. Tessier. Mrs Lee relates Cuvier's discovery of the 

 agriculturist in the following manner. " He (M. Tessier) 

 spoke so well, and seemed so entirely master of the subject, 

 that the young secretary of the Society recognised him as 

 the author of the article on agriculture, in the Encyclope- 

 die Methodique. On saluting him as such, M. Tessier, 

 whose title of Abbe had rendered him suspected at Paris, 

 exclaimed, * I am known then, and consequently lost!' 

 Lost!' replied M. Cuvier; 'No! you are henceforth the 

 object of our most anxious care.' This circumstance led to 

 an intimacy between the two.". Mem. of Baron Cuvier, 

 by Mrs Lee, p. 22. 



