THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT IN FRANCE. 



139 



fortunate departures could have been. During this ap- 

 parent rest, all the different parts of method were deep- 

 ened ; the interior of natural objects was studied ; even 

 minerals were dissected and reduced to their mechanical 

 elements ; a still more intimate analysis was made by a 

 perfected chemistry ; the earth itself was, during this 

 interval, if the expression is allowable, dissected by the 

 geologists ; its depths were sounded ; the order and layers 

 of rock which form its shell were recognised,^ In the 

 absence of foreign contributions the interior of the soil 

 on which we walk became tributary to science. The 

 beings of which it contains the remains came to light, 

 and revealed a natural history anterior to that of to- 

 day, different in its forms, and nevertheless subject to 

 similar laws, thus giving to these laws a sanction which 

 no one expected. The botanists did not gather so many 

 plants in their collections, but with the lens in hand they 

 demonstrated more and more the intimate structure of 

 the fruit, the seed, the various relations which connect 

 the parts of the flower, and the indications which these 

 relations furnish for a natural division. The most deli- 

 cate forms of organic tissues were exhibited ; medicine 



^ Cuvier refers here to the inves- 

 tigation of the fossils in the Paris 

 basin, which he undertook during 

 the years 1804 to 1808 : " La singu- 

 larite des animaux dont je decouv- 

 rais les ossements a Montmartre 

 me fit desirer de connaitre plus en 

 detail la composition geologique des 

 environs de Paris. Mon ami Brong- 

 niart s'associa a moi pour ce travail ; 

 nous fimes ensemble et separement 

 beaucoup de courses. . . . Ces 

 recherches ont donne une face toute 

 nouvelle a la geologie, et ont occa- 



sionue toutes celles qu'ont faites 

 ensuite en Angleterre MM. Webster. 

 Buckland, Labeche et autres " 

 (Cuvier, "Mem. sur sa Vie" in 

 Flourens, ' Eloges,' vol. iii. p. 188). 

 This was the beginning of the 

 Science of Palseontologj', a term 

 which Cuvier did not use himself 

 (Flourens, 'Travaux de Cuvier,' p. 

 147). See also Cuvier, 'Recherches 

 sur les Ossemens fossils de Quadru- 

 pedes,' &c., 1st ed., 1812, 3rd ed., 

 1825, in the Introduction. 



