15 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



he colored the plates in Buffon's Natural History from de- 

 scriptions in the text. 



It was at first contemplated by his family that he should 

 prepare for theology, but failing, through the unfairness of 

 one of his teachers, to get an appointment to the theological 

 seminary, his education was continued in other directions. 

 He was befriended by the sister of the Duke of Wiirttemberg, 

 who sent him as a pensioner to the famous Carolinian acad- 

 emy at Stuttgart. There he showed great application, and 

 with the wonderful memory with which he was endowed, he 

 took high rank as a student. Here he met Kielmeyer, a 

 young instructor only four years older than himself, who 

 shared his taste for natural history and. besides this, intro- 

 duced him to anatomy. In after-years Cuvier acknowledged 

 the assistance of Kielmeyer in determining his future work 

 and in teaching him to dissect. 



Life at the Seashore. In 1788 the resources of his 

 family, which had always been slender, became further re- 

 duced by the inability of the government to pay his father's 

 retiring stipend. As the way did not open for employ- 

 ment in other directions, young Cuvier took the post of in- 

 structor of the only son in the family of Count d'Hericy, 

 and went with the family to the sea-coast in Normandy, 

 near Caen. For six years (1788-1794) he lived in this noble 

 family, with much time at his disposal. For Cuvier this 

 period, from the age of nineteen to twenty-five, was one of 

 constant research and reflection. 



While Paris was disrupted by the reign of terror, Cuvier, 

 who, although of French descent, regarded himself as a Ger- 

 man, was quietly carrying on his researches into the structure 

 of the life at the seaside. These years of diligent study and 

 freedom from distractions fixed his destiny. Here at the 

 sea-coast, without the assistance of books and the stimulus 

 of intercourse with other naturalists, he was drawn directly 



