18 MEMOIR OF PALLAS. 



" When a man," says Baron Cuvier, " devote? 

 his whole life to science; when entirely occupied 

 in making observations and in recording them, the 

 only suspension in his researches being that required 

 for their publication, it will easily be imagined that 

 his life will not exhibit many striking incidents, 

 and will be read accurately only in the analysis of 

 his works. But if, besides, working only for men 

 of science of his own grade, he despises all orna- 

 ment ; if to assist him in the accumulation of facts, 

 he always clothes them in the simplest and most 

 meagre expressions, and leaves to others the humble 

 merit of deducing the results, then this analysis be- 

 comes almost impossible; and to make known his 

 works, it is necessary that we should copy them. 

 These remarks apply to Pallas. Removed in youth 

 from his family and country, a third of his life 

 was spent in the desert, and the rest in his study ; 

 and in both these situations he made an immense 

 number of observations, and wrote a great many 

 memoirs and volumes. All his writings dry, and 

 not composed with the object of pleasing, are yet 

 filled with important and novel remarks : they have 

 elevated the name of the author to the first rank 

 among naturalists, who peruse them without ceas- 

 ing, and quote them in every page ; they are studied 

 and consulted with pleasure by the historian and 

 the geographer, by those who study the philosophy 

 of language, and the moral condition of the difi*erent 

 races of mankind. But it is precisely this multitude 

 of his labours, and their diversity, which compels 



