BARON CUVIER. 19 



mind, manner, and disposition, threw a bright halo of hap- 

 piness round him, which was his support in suffering, his 

 refuge in trouble, and a powerful auxiliary, when his<heavy 

 and important duties allowed him to steal an hour of ration- 

 al arid unrestrained conversation. By this marriage he had 

 four children, the first of whom, a son, died a few weeks 

 after his birth, and who were all successively taken from 

 him. 



In 1808, in his character of Perpetual Secretary, M. 

 Cuvier wrote a Report on the Progress of Natural Sciences, 

 from the year 1789. A mere report was demanded ; but 

 under this title the learned author produced one of the most 

 luminous treatises that had ever appeared, " serving as a 

 beacon to the path which had already been traversed, and 

 to that which was yet to be pursued."* The report was 

 formerly presented to the Emperor in the council of state. 

 In this same year, when Napoleon created the Imperial 

 University, M. Cuvier was made one of the counsellors for 

 life to this body, which brought him constantly into the 

 immediate presence of the Emperor. 



In 1809 and 1810, in his office of Counsellor to the 

 University, M. Cuvier was charged with the organization of 

 the academies of those Italian states which were, for a time 

 annexed to the empire. The regulations made by him at 

 Turin, Genoa, and Pisa, were afterwards continued by the 

 sovereigns of these countries on their return to their domi- 

 nions. 



In 1811, appeared one of the most important of all M. 

 Cuvier's scientific labours, his work on Fossil Remains ; 

 which opened new sources of wonder in the history of crea- 

 tion, and made an entire revolution in the study of geology. 

 Also, in 1811, he was ordered to form academies in Holland 

 and the Hanseatic towns, where several of his arrange- 

 ments are still existing. His Reports from Holland are 

 particularly worthy of admiration ; for in them he exposed 

 the true causes of the inferiority of that country in classical 

 attainment, and showed, that the disgust often felt by the 

 pupils, arose from their not having enough given to their 

 minds to feed upon. The schools for the people attracted 



* Baron Pasquier. 





