MEMOIR OF CUVIER. 35 



which he was attached was denied his assistance. Nor 

 was the business of the societies, in many of which 

 he held the office of secretary, neglected : their writ- 

 ten memoirs and reports were all drawn up with the 

 strictest care, and often contained a vast mass of in- 

 formation. Notwithstanding, in 1818 we find him 

 to have heen the author of no less than 127 me- 

 moirs, many of them of great extent, and contain- 

 ing information in every department of Nature. 



The first memoir that he appears to have publish- 

 ed was in 1792, during his residence at Caen, " Sur 

 1'Anatomie de la Patelle," after which we find many 

 upon various Mollusca, which, for a few years about 

 this time, occupied a great part of his studies. We 

 mentioned previously, that, in 1796, his first me- 

 moir connected with Fossil Osteology was upon tne 

 Megalonix of Jefferson ; and the skill displayed in 

 the examination of this singular animal raised him 

 very high in the estimation of his colleagues. Be- 

 tween this period and 1811, a great portion of time 

 was devoted to the examination of the immense de- 

 posits of bones which had been discovered in various 

 parts of the world, and for which the quarries around 

 Paris afforded great facilities. In this manner were 

 the materials for the " Recherches sur les Ossemens 

 Fossiles des Quadrupedes" collected. The greater 

 part of these " Recherches" were published in the 

 Annales du Museum as their author completed his 

 discoveries, " that the singular results which he 

 had to communicate might instigate the possessors 



