j5 . . MEMOIR OP CUVIER. 



fefdted" more than any of their predecessors to give an addi- 

 cconalzeaVaad zest, at>d practical utility, toNalural History. 

 ThVindividuulHVwhom we shall devote our present 

 sketch, thus well compares these his forerunners in re- 

 search : " Linnaeus and BufFon seem to have possessed, 

 each in his own way, those qualities which it was impossi- 

 ble for the same man to combine, and all of which were 

 necessary to give a rapid impulse to the study of nature. 

 Both passionately fond of this science, both thirsting for 

 fame, both indefatigable in their studies, both gifted with 

 sensibility, lively imaginations, and elevated minds, they 

 each started in their career armed with those resources which 

 result from profound erudition. But each of them traced 

 a different path for himself, according to the peculiar bent 

 of his genius. Linnaeus seized on the distinguishing cha- 

 racters of beings, with the most remarkable tact ; BufFon, 

 at one glance, embraced the most distant affinities. Lin- 

 naeus, exact and precise, created a language on purpose to 

 express his ideas clearly, and at the same time concisely ; 

 BufFon, abundant and fertile in expression, used his own 

 words to develope the extent of his conceptions. No one 

 ever exceeded Linnaeus in impressing every one with the 

 beauties of detail, with which the Creator has profusely 

 enriched every thing to which he has given life ; none bet- 

 ter than Bufibn ever painted the majesty of Creation, and 

 the imposing grandeur of the laws to which she is subject- 

 ed. The former, frightened at the chaos or careless state 

 in which his predecessors had left the history of Nature, 

 contrived by simple methods, and short and clear defini- 

 tions, to establish order in this immense labyrinth, and 

 render a knowledge of individual beings easy of attain- 

 ment ; the latter, disgusted at the dryness of antecedent 

 writers, who, for the most part, were contented with giving 

 exact descriptions, knew how to interest us for these ob- 

 jects, by the magic of his harmonious and poetical lan- 

 guage. Sometimes the student, fatigued by the perusal of 



