M. LE COMTE DE LACEPEDE. 25 



preservative of that great association which had 

 laboured so successfully in the popular field of Na- 

 tural History. It was on these accounts he was 

 called upon to form a part of the nucleus of the 

 Institute, and was thus one of those who were 

 charged with the restoration of the Academic des 

 Sciences. He was also one of its first secretaries, 

 and his beautiful eloge on Dolomier makes it a 

 matter of regret that he was raised to higher posts, 

 from a situation which he would have filled better 

 than any one else. This statement comes at least 

 with as much grace as truth from the lips of Cuvier ; 

 who, in the discharge of the duties of the same 

 office, pronounced the eloge of his predecessor. 



Of all the occupations in which M. de Lacepede 

 had been induced to engage, the sciences alone, 

 as is usual, remained faithful to him in the time 

 of misfortune, and it was with them he consoled 

 himself in his retreat. Resuming the habits of his 

 youth, passing the day in the midst of the woods 

 or on the banks of the rivers, he traced his plan 

 of his Natural History of Fishes, the most im- 

 portant of his works. Immediately after his return, 

 he commenced its composition ; and at the end of 

 two years, in 1798, he found himself in a condition 

 to publish the first volume. Five volumes appeared 

 in succession, the last in 1803. All that he could 

 collect regarding the organization of these animals, 

 their habits, the wars which the human species 

 wage against them, and the benefit derived from 

 them, he has given in a pure and elegant style ; he 



