CHILDHOOD OF CUVIER. 



71 



former times. The remains of the 

 elephant and mastodon, in superfi- 

 cial deposits, have, in like manner, 

 been invested with superstitious 

 fancies, and assigned to giants of a 

 remote age. Sir Koderick Murchi- 

 son relates, that when travelling 

 along the eastern flanks of the 

 Ural mountains, it was his lot to 

 visit many accumulations of gold 

 alluvia, in which bones of the mam- 

 moth and other extinct quadrupeds 

 were found. For these remains 

 the poor Bashkirs, the original in- 

 habitants of the tract, preserved so 

 deep a veneration that, in freely 

 permitting the search after the true 

 wealth of their country, which they 

 were incapable of extracting, their 

 sole appeal to the Russian miners 

 was " Take from us our gold, but, 

 for God's sake, leave us our ances- 

 tors !" 



SIR HUMPHRY DAVY. 



When Davy was in Sicily ho was 

 studying geology, and the rap and 

 clatter of his hammer among the 

 rocks astonished the Catanian pea- 

 sants, who accounted him mad. 

 They told their priest of the danger 

 from the maniac, but Davy had 

 seen the priest before them ; his 

 reverence quietly intimated to the 

 peasants that it was a foreign gen- 

 tleman from a far-off land, who was 

 practising a penance ! Davy was 

 then regarded by the Catanians as 

 a saint. 



DR. BUTTON. 



When the founder of the Hut- 

 tonian theory first observed in 

 Glentilt veins of red granite traver- 

 sing the black micaceous schist, he 

 Tittered a shout of exultation, which 

 his guides ascribed to nothing less 

 important than the discovery of a 

 vein of gold or silver. 



ODYIEB. 



When the Count de Seze replied 

 to an eloquent discourse of Cuvier, 

 he stated that, since the Restoration, 



Cuvier was the second example of 

 fortunate combination of literature 

 and science, and that he had been 

 preceded only by that illustrious 

 geometer (the Marquis de Laplace), 

 whom we may call " the Newton of 

 France." In referring to the Euro- 

 pean reputation of Cuvier, and to 

 the vast extent and variety of his 

 knowledge, he applied to him the 

 happy observation which Fonte- 

 nelle made respecting Leibnitz 

 that while the ancients made one 

 Hercules out of several, we might 

 out of one Cuvier make several 

 philosophers. 



CHILDHOOD OF CUVIER. 



Cuvier, like Sir Isaac Newton, 

 was born with such a feeble and 

 sickly constitution, that he was 

 scarcely expected to reach the years 

 of manhood. His affectionate mother 

 watched over his varying health, 

 instilled into his mind the first les- 

 sons of religion, and had taught 

 him to read fluently before he had 

 completed his fourth year. She 

 made him repeat to her his Latin 

 lessons, though ignorant herself of 

 the language; she conducted him 

 every morning to school ; made him 

 practise drawing under her own. 

 superintendence, and supplied him 

 with the best works on history and 

 literature. His father had destined 

 him for the army. In the library 

 of the Gymnasium, where he stood 

 at the head of the classes of history, 

 geography, and mathematics, he 

 lighted upon a copy of Gesner's 

 History of Animals and Serpents, 

 with coloured plates; and, about 

 the same time, he had discovered a 

 complete copy of Buffou among the 

 books of one of his relatives. His 

 taste for natural history now be- 

 came a passion. He copied the 

 figures which these works contained, 

 and coloured them in conformity 

 with the descriptions; whilst he 

 did not overlooK the intellectual 

 beauties of his author. 



