CUVIER. 183 



all hopes of political distinction, and accepted the 

 modest position of tutor to a French family, that of 

 M. d'Hericy, at Caen, in Normandy. He was to 

 educate the only son ; and so, without bewailing his 

 lot, which was thought a very sad one by his com- 

 panions and admirers, Cuvier settled down to work 

 and found that he was in the very position for 

 using those remarkable powers as a naturalist, 

 which determined his future career. The sea was 

 close by, and Cuvier began to study the marine 

 animals. After some time some fossils were dis- 

 covered at Fecamp, and Cuvier began to compare 

 them with the living things which most resembled 

 them. Then the accidental discovery of a cjjlamary 

 led him to study the higher mollusca, or shell-fish. 

 Cuvier also began to study the huge class of vermes, 

 or worms, in which Linnaeus had included a vast 

 number of lower animals, and which Lamark 

 subsequently investigated. Cuvier examined the 

 anatomy of the groups, and arranged them accord- 

 ing to their resemblances in structure. This was 

 an excellent piece of work, and it was done for the 

 purposes of self-instruction, and not for fame. 

 Nevertheless, the manuscript was full of good 

 observations and of new truths. Whilst Cuvier 

 was thus employed, and the time was that of the 

 reign of terror, a society was formed at Valmont, 

 in his neighbourhood, for the encouragement of 

 agriculture. L'Abbe Teissier had sought at the 

 place a refuge from the persecutions of the revo- 

 lutionists of Paris, and under the disguise of a 



