202 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



hood of the colleges and institutions had students 

 in them, living in the top stories, who were so 

 poor that they had to subscribe to get a book 

 or two between them. They would occasionally be 

 surprised by a visit from their great teacher. He 

 came to offer, with the greatest courtesy, the assist- 

 ance he knew they required ; and if they were ill 

 he did not rest satisfied until he had obtained 

 advice and nourishment for them. Himself keenly 

 alive to the slightest rudeness or neglect, and 

 grateful for the smallest proof of affection, he knew 

 how to give, not only with a liberal hand, but with 

 a delicacy which never wounded the most sensitive 

 temper. The year 1832 was a melancholy one for 

 Paris ; for political disturbances and cholera pre- 

 vailed. The disease raged around Cuvier's neigh- 

 bourhood, and he saw many cut off from it in the 

 midst of their youth and strength. At this time 

 he gave up his evening visits and the few relaxa- 

 tions he permitted himself to enjoy. Secluding 

 himself from society, except that of his own family, 

 he had no sooner performed his daily routine of 

 public duties than he returned to his studies with a 

 zeal and closeness of application that was doubtless 

 injurious to his health, though he himself said that 

 he had never worked with such enjoyment. On 

 Tuesday, May 8th, he opened the third and con- 

 cluding part of his course of lectures at the College 

 of France on the history of science, and it was his 

 last discourse. Strangely enough, it was as if it 

 were to be his last, so impressive, so grandly com- 



