v Alexandre Brongniart 213 



it was needful to understand, in the field, the conditions 

 under which they have been entombed and preserved. 

 He had himself no practical acquaintance with the structure 

 and relations of rocks, but he was fortunate in securing 

 the co-operation of a man singularly able to supply the 

 qualifications in which he was himself deficient. 



Alexandre Brongniart (1770-1847), Cuvier's associate, 

 was a year younger than the great anatomist, having been 

 born in Paris in 1770. He began his career early in life by 

 endeavouring to improve the art of enamelling in France. 

 Thereafter he served in the medical department of the army 

 until he was attached to the Corps of Mines and was 

 made director of the famous porcelain factory of Sevres. 

 He had long given his attention to minerals and rocks, and 

 was eventually appointed professor of mineralogy at the 

 Museum of Natural History. But his tastes led him also 

 to study zoology. Thus, among his labours in this field, 

 he worked out the zoological and geological relations of 

 Trilobites. There was consequently in their common pur- 

 suits, a bond of union between the two observers. They 

 had both entered upon a domain that was as yet almost 

 untrodden; and each brought with him knowledge and 

 experience that were needful to the other. 



Accordingly they engaged in a series of researches in 

 the basin of the Seine which continued for some years. 

 Cuvier relates that during four years he made almost every 

 week an excursion into the country around Paris, for the 

 sake of studying its geological structure. Particular 

 attention was given to two features, the evidence of a 

 definite succession among the strata, and the distinction of 

 the organic remains contained in them. 



