136 



SCIENTIFIC THOUGHT. 



30. 

 Cuvier the 

 greatest 

 representa- 

 tive of the 

 Academic 

 system. 



operation of many minds in rearing the great edifice of 

 science, and found a place for the minutest research, as 

 well as a field for the development and sway of great and 

 governing ideas. Of the best form of this spirit and 

 system the Academic Cuvier was the greatest repre- 

 sentative. Through several dozen filoges which he pro- 

 nounced on the decease of a number of the most illus- 

 trious scientific men of Europe, as well as through 

 several Eeports, in which he summed up the labours and 

 progress of his age, and the peculiar features of his period, 

 he affords to the student of history an insight into that 

 distinctive phase which scientific thought had entered in 

 France at the end of the eighteenth century. This he 

 allows us to contrast with other phases of thought, such 

 as the philosophical or individual, which obtained in other 

 ages or countries, and suggests as well as gives the means of 

 answering the question, to what extent the scientific ideal 



etudier que subsister," he said of 

 one of the Academicians (BouiUier, 

 pp. ix, xii). Cuvier was very watch- 

 ful over the Academy in keeping 

 out the speculative spirit. See 

 what he says in the joint Report 

 on geology with Haiiy and Lelievre 

 ('M(5m. de I'lnstitut,' vol. viii. 1607, 

 p. 136). " Que doivent done faire 

 le.s corps savans pour procurer h, une 

 science aussi interessante et aussi 

 utile, les accroissemens dont elle est 

 su.sceptible ? ... lis doiveut tenir 

 la conduite, qu'ils ont tenue depuis 

 leur etablissement, \i I'egard de 

 toutes les autres sciences : encour- 

 ager de leurs dloges ceux qui con- 

 statent des faits positifs et garder 

 un silence absolu sur les systemes 

 qui se succedent. " Compare with 

 this what he says about the use of 

 the principle of "vital force," al- 

 ways referring to Newton's method 



('M^m. de I'lnst.,' vol. vii. p. 77, 

 &c.), further in his analysis of Gall 

 and Spurzheim's Memoire ('M^m. 

 de I'Inst.,' vol. ix. p. 65): "Les 

 commissaires de la classe . . . ont 

 donn^ leur assentiment h. presque 

 toutes les propositions de MM. G. 

 & S., qui ne dependent que de 

 I'inspection anatomique, &c. . . . 

 les commissaires ont cru dgale- 

 ment de leur devoir de prevenir le 

 public, qu'il n'y a aucun rapport 

 direct, aucune liaison necessaire 

 entre ces decouvertes et le doctrine 

 enseignee par MM. G. & S., &c. . . . 

 Toutes ces mati5res sont encore trop 

 etrangeres aux attributions de la 

 classe, elles tiennent aux faits sen- 

 sibles d'une mani6re trop lache, 

 elles pretent a trop de discussions 

 vagues, pour qu'un corps tel que 

 le notre doive s'en occuper" (p. 

 159). 



