MEMOIR OF BARON CUVIER. 



ALTHOUGH France is entitled to all the glory which is reflected upon 

 her by the fame of the illustrious Cuvier, yet he was only her child by 

 adoption, if we are to consider the claims of locality as capable of deciding 

 the point of affinity between country and individuals. He was born 

 on the 23d of August, 17C9, at Montbeillard, which was, at the period 

 of his birth, and for several years afterwards, included in the duchy of 

 Wirtemberg. Here it was that his father had ultimately chosen his re- 

 sidence, after having devoted the best years of his life to the military 

 service. The elder Cuvier was a Swiss, who had in early life entered the 

 French army, and, having faithfully adhered to the government of France, 

 he, at the conclusion of his active labours, retired to his native town of 

 Montbeillard, on a small pension, which eventually was considerably in- 

 creased by the revenue accruing from a fresh appointment as com- 

 mandant of the artillery. 



In his childhood, the subject of our memoir exhibited all the charac- 

 teristic marks of a feeble constitution. The cares of his mother were for 

 this reason redoubled; and her affectionate vigilance was rewarded in the 

 unceasing veneration of the surviving object of it to the latest moment of 

 his existence. It was to her that he was indebted for his early devotion 

 to books and the art of drawing. He was successively placed in the in- 

 stitutions for education in its various branches, which had, even at that 

 early period, been common in the country ; and, it is a curious fact, that 

 his first impressions of partiaHty for natural history were derived from the 

 sight of a Gesner with coloured plates, and also from the perusal of those 

 accompanying the work of Buffon, of which a copy was by accident 

 accessible to him. The sort of- talent displayed by young Cuvier 

 whilst still occupied in the rudimentary schools of Montbeillard, was of a 

 nature to point him out as a fit candidate for the church ; and, as he was 

 educated in the Protestant religion, the local government, which was Pro- 

 testant also, took the usual measures for securing the services of such a 

 promising auxiliary in maintaining a religion surrounded by an opposition 

 of the most formidable nature. 



In furtherance of these views, Cuvier was sent to Studtgard, and was 

 placed, by order of Prince Charles of Wirtemberg, in the college called 



VOL. I. b 



