142 STUDIES IN ANIMAL LIFE. 



strong enough to hold his own. And so the two 

 happy, active youths pursued their studies together, 

 wrote memoirs conjointly, discussed, dissected, spec- 

 ulated together, and " never sat down to breakfast 

 without having made a fresh discovery," as Cuvier 

 said truly enough, for to them every step taken was 

 a discovery. 



Cuvier became almost immediately famous on his 

 arrival at Paris, and his career henceforward was 

 one uninterrupted success. Those who wish to 

 gain some insight into the causes of this success 

 should read the letters to Pfaff, which indicate the 

 passionate patience of his studies during the years 

 1788-1795, passed in obscurity on the Norman 

 coast. Every animal he can lay hands on is dis- 

 sected with the greatest care, and drawings are 

 made of every detail of interest. Every work that 

 is published of any note in his way is read, ana- 

 lyzed, and commented on. Lavoisier's new system 

 of chemistry finds in him an ardent disciple. Kiel- 

 meyer's lectures open new vistas to him. The mar- 

 vels of marine life, in those days so little thought 

 of, he studies with persevering minuteness and with 

 admirable success. He dissects the cuttlefish, and 

 makes his drawings of it with its own ink. He 

 notes minute characters with the patience of a spe- 

 cies-monger, whose sole ambition is to affix his 

 name to some trifling variation of a common form, 

 yet with this minuteness of detail he unites the large- 

 ness of view necessary to a comparative anatomist. 



