W 



CUVIER 



1769-1832 



HEN George III. and Louis XV. were on the thrones 

 of England and France respectively, there was born 

 one of the world's greatest naturalists. Georges Chretien 

 Leopold Fr6de"ric Dagobert Cuvier was born on 23rd August 

 1769, at Montbeliard, in the Department of Doubs, then 

 belonging to Wurtemberg. His father, an officer and 

 a Protestant, retired in order to escape religious persecution, 

 and settled in the town previously mentioned. He had 

 three sons the eldest died young, the second became the 

 hero of our story, and the third was Frederic Cuvier 

 (1772-1838), the naturalist. 



Georges Cuvier, on account of his delicate constitution, 

 was first taught by his mother an excellent and praise- 

 worthy woman. At ten years of age he went to school, 

 and there acquired an excellent knowledge of Greek, 

 Latin, mathematics, and other subjects ; and at the age 

 of fourteen the Duke of Wurtemberg sent him to the 

 Academy of Stuttgart. He had studied Buffon, and 

 thereby became acquainted with the natural history of 



18 



