18 MEMOIRS OF 



called royal colleges ; and while thus employed at Mar- 

 seilles, he profited by the opportunity so afforded him of 

 continuing his studies on marine animals. During his 

 absence from Paris, the Institute underwent a change of 

 form, and its secretaryships were made perpetual.* M. 

 Cuvier was elected to that of natural sciences, which 

 he held with honour to the day of his death. On this ap- 

 pointment he quitted his labours of inspector general of 

 education. 



A fall having occasioned the death of M. Cuvier's father, 

 shortly after his arrival in Paris, and his brother's wife 

 having died the first year of her marriage, in giving birth 

 to a sont, the two brothers remained alone ; and it was in 

 this comparatively condition that M. Cuvier thought of 

 seeking a companion. In 1803, he married the widow of 

 M. Duvaucel, Fermier General, who had perished on the 

 scaffold in the year 1794. This was no match of interest ; 

 for Madame Duvaucel had been wholly deprived of fortune 

 by the Revolution, and brought four children { to M. Cu- 

 vier, whom she had borne to M. Duvaucel. But well had 

 M. Cuvier judged of the best means of securing domestic 

 enjoyment ; for this lady, who is a rare combination of 



* Napoleon fixed the salary of the perpetual secretaries of the Insti- 

 tute at 6000 francs ; and on its being observed to him that it wag too 

 much, he replied, " The perpetual secretary must be enabled to receiTe at 

 dinner all the learned foreigners -who visit the capital." 



t M. Frederic Cuvier is now keeper of the me'nagerie of the Jardin des 

 Plantes, in which capacity his observations on the instinct, habits, and den- 

 tition of animals have been highly valuable. He is the author of several 

 learned works on these subjects, is member of the Institute, one of the in- 

 spectors-general of education, &c. &c. ; but all these titles to public consi- 

 deration are nothing in comparison to the admirable qualities of his heart 

 and temper. The distinguished talents of the son thus bequeathed to him 

 will at least bear the illustrious name of Cuvier one generation further with 

 honour. 



J Two of these children are dead, one of them having been assassinated 

 in Portugal during the retreat of the French in 1809. The other fell a ric- 

 tim to his scientific zeal in a pernicious climate ; and after having display- 

 ed great talent and courage, while travelling in India and the neighbour- 

 ing islands for four years, in order to make collections for the museum in 

 Paris, expired at Madras, at an early age, lamented by all as a youth of 

 great promise, and the most endearing qualities. One of the survivors 

 holds a high place in the customs of Bordeaux ; and the other, who has 

 been loved and cherished by M. Cuvier as his own daughter, has had the 

 happiness of devoting herself to him in his last moments, and now forms 

 the sole consolation of her afflicted mother. 



