208 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



real religion, better than outside friends and de- 

 tractors, and prayed that he might receive that 

 support which alone could enable him to bear the 

 heaviest of sorrows with resignation. 



Judging the man by his fruit and life, it must be 

 admitted that Cuvier was one of the greatest 

 students and teachers of nature that have lived, his 

 work, being true, lasts ; moreover, there is no 

 doubt that he had but few failings, and a great 

 amount of wisdom and virtue. Certainly he was 

 a staunch friend to religious education, and if one 

 could have known his heart, it is very possible that 

 his apparent ambition and desire of social great- 

 ness and position may have been influenced by the 

 knowledge that influence and dignity would further 

 his work both as an anatomist and zoologist, and 

 as a responsible promoter of education. 



The lives of these heroes have been mainly 

 taken from the life of John Ray in the Ray 

 Society's publications, and from an excellent little 

 book, by an anonymous author, called " Cuvier 

 and Zoology," and from the " Memoires de 

 L' Academic des Sciences." 



