76 SABON CUVIER. 



ing upon them. But Cuvier was stopped at Nancy 

 by the entrance of the allied armies, and obliged 

 to return. 



He was now famous, and his company and coun- 

 sel were sought by the learned and the great. 

 And he was still a comparatively young man, 

 forty-four. 



But life had great sorrows in the midst of this 

 prosperity. His first child, a son, had died a few 

 weeks after his birth. His daughter Annie had 

 died in 1812, at the age of four, and now in 1813, 

 while he was absent in Rome, his only son, Georges, 

 a boy of seven, had been taken from him. The 

 blow was a terrible one. For many years he never 

 saw a boy near that age, without being deeply 

 affected. He would stop on the streets to watch a 

 group of boys playing, and then go on sadly, think- 

 ing of the one he had buried. 



In 1814, Cuvier was raised to the rank of Coun- 

 sellor of State, and Chancellor of the University. 

 When Napoleon was asked why he had appointed 

 a savant to a political position, he replied, "that 

 he may be able to rest himself sometimes," know- 

 ing that to a man like Cuvier change was the most 

 helpful rest. When Napoleon abdicated his throne, 

 and Louis XVIII. came to power, Cuvier was re- 

 tained in office, for his rare administrative ability, 

 and upright life. 



Three years later, the first edition of his " Ani- 

 mal Kingdom " appeared, and is now to be seen in 

 the British Museum, in seventeen volumes. This 



