1 84 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



surgeon attended the meetings. On one occasion 

 Cuvier was struck with the manner of speaking of 

 the worthy old man, and thought that it resembled 

 the writings of the well-known Abb^. Inadvertently 

 Cuvier addressed him as L'Abb^, and this gave at 

 first great alarm. He found in Cuvier, however, a 

 great admirer and a generous friend, and was so 

 pleased with his talents and industry, that he after- 

 wards wrote to the celebrated botanist, Jussieu, as 

 follows : " At the sight of this young man, I ex- 

 perienced the delight of the philosopher who was 

 thrown on an unknown shore, and saw traced there 

 the figures of geometry. M. Cuvier is a violet 

 which was concealed among common herbs. He 

 knows much, and draws figures for your work. I 

 doubt your finding a more able person for com- 

 parative anatomy, for he demonstrates with much 

 method and clearness. It is a pearl worthy of being 

 gathered by you. I contributed to draw M. De- 

 larbre from his retreat, help me to draw M. Cuvier 

 from his ; he is made for science and the world." 



Cuvier was, in consequence, asked to read some of 

 his essays to the Society of Natural History at Paris, 

 and these gave such satisfaction that he was invited 

 to take a position at the Jardin des Plantes. This 

 occurred in 1795, and Cuvier was then twenty-six 

 years of age. He was thus settled for life in the 

 very position he desired, for although called the 

 garden of plants, a grand museum of the compara- 

 tive anatomy of animals was to rise there under 

 the superintendence of the young man. He was 



