34 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



are led at once to think of Lamarck and Latreille, of Cuvier 

 and Dumeril, of Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, father and son, for 

 the latter belongs in part to this period, and of Valenciennes 

 and Milne-Edwards, with whom Humboldt made acquaintance 

 during the latter part of his sojourn in Paris. Of these 

 distinguished men three were Humboldt's coadjutors. 



Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine Lamarck was born in the year 

 1744, in the Department of the Somme. Early destined for a 

 military career, he soon renounced the profession of arms for 

 the prosecution of scientific studies, especially botany and 

 zoology, and in 1788 became Dauben ton's assistant at the 

 Jardin des Plantes. Five years later he was appointed Pro- 

 fessor of Zoology at the Museum of Natural History, and 

 elected a member of the Institute. He continued to deliver 

 lectures to the age of seventy-four, and died at the advanced 

 age of eighty-five years. Besides the important results he 

 achieved in botany he rendered very valuable service to zoology, 

 in the study of the invertebrate animals a department of 

 labour in which he found a worthy successor in Latreille. 



Frederic Cuvier ^ the younger brother of the distinguished 

 Georges Cuvier, was an eminent zoologist. He was born at 

 Montbeliard in 1773, received a professorship, and was ap- 

 pointed Curator of the Anatomical Museum in the Jardin des 

 Plantes. In conjunction with Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, he pub- 

 lished the ' Histoire naturelle des Mammiferes.' 



Andre-Marie Constant Dumeril is known through the 

 valuable assistance he rendered Cuvier in the publication of his 

 celebrated work ' Lecons d' Anatomic comparee.' He was born 

 at Amiens in 1774, and was eminent alike as a physician, 

 anatomist, physiologist, and zoologist ; as an intimate friend of 

 Humboldt's he was frequently consulted by him upon the 

 zoological portion of his great work on America. 



Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (Etienne) the elder was a man 

 of scientific eminence, and an intimate friend of Humboldt's. 

 Born in the year 1772, he was early destined for the church, 

 afterwards for the law, and finally for the profession of medi- 

 cine. He devoted himself to the study of the natural sciences 

 under Haiiy, Fourcroy, and Daubenton, and before the age of 

 twenty-one received the appointment of Professor of Natural 



