24 BIOGRAPHIES OF SCIENTIFIC MEN 



a peer of France, and just before his death (which 

 occurred on 13th May 1832) was made Ministre de 1'In- 

 terieur. Cuvier died in harness, for he was lecturing at 

 the College de France only a few days before his death. 

 He was buried in the celebrated Cimetiere du Pere la 

 Chaise, and his funeral was attended by an enormous 

 concourse of people, his death being looked upon as a 

 national calamity. 



Cuvier was of a religious nature ; his lectures and speech 

 were clear, precise, and animated, often rising to the 

 highest eloquence ; he was a brilliant writer, and an 

 expert draughtsman. In private life he was kind and 

 affable, a lover of order and regularity, and was accessible 

 to all, except during hours of study. He conscientiously 

 performed his various and manifold duties, both to the 

 State and to science, with increasing industry. So vast 

 were his labours that he shortened his days. 



Cuvier was the first to indicate the principle upon 

 which the classification of animals should be based from 

 the standpoint of comparative anatomy. He was the 

 founder of comparative anatomy, and the discoverer of 

 the law of the " correlation of growth," and was the 

 first to apply this law to the reconstruction of animals 

 from fossil fragments, and hence the student of nature 

 might see pictures of the earliest epochs in the world's 

 history before the advent of man. To the older zoo- 

 logist, classification was based on external resemblances, 



