PART II. 



THAT portion of my work which now lies before me has 

 a grandeur and extent of subject which none but the life of 

 M. Cuvier could present, and though I have confined my- 

 self to a mere description of his scientific labours, it will in 

 size, exceed all the others. But thus to follow him through 

 this part of his vast career, thus to show him in the light 

 of a savant, is no easy task ; for though a simple cata- 

 logue of his publications might have astonished by its 

 length, it would have been very inadequate to my purpose. 

 I have therefore attempted to carry my readers through 

 each undertaking, by giving the outline of every plan, its 

 purport, and its mode of execution ; citing M. Cuvier's own 

 sentiments and reflections in order to confirm that which 

 is set forth, and occasionally giving even his own words, 

 as examples of that style which was part of himself. I 

 have also deemed it advisable to point out, in as brief a 

 manner as possible, the state of natural history at the time 

 he appeared, that a better estimate may be formed of the 

 important revolutions which he either completed, or for 

 which he laid the foundation. 



Notwithstanding the great endeavours made in the ear- 

 lier part of the seventeenth century towards the progress of 

 natural history, as a science, there yet remained, when M. 

 Cuvier first entered the learned world, as much to be 

 done as had been effected since the revival of letters. The 

 perfect form in which plants can be preserved with compa- 

 ratively little trouble, the small expense at which they can 

 be procured, and the narrow compass in which collections 

 can be contained, gave them great advantages over other 

 branches of natural history. Accordingly, we find that 

 Botany had most profited by the exertions of several illus- 

 trious naturalists; it had even assumed that grouping, 

 according to general organization and structure, which is 

 called the natural system ; but Zoology, from the 'greater 

 difficulties which the study of it presents, was compara- 



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