BARON CUVIKR, 107 



nature semble vouloir se montrer par un plus grand nom- 

 bre de faces. 



" Les plantes les plus rares, depuis celles des pays tem- 

 peres jusqu'a celles de la Zone Glaciale, n'y content 

 que quelques pas au botaniste ; le zoologiste peut y pour- 

 suivre des insectes aussi varies que la vegetation qui les 

 nourrit ; le lac y forme pour le physicien une sorte de mer, 

 par sa profondeur, par son etendue et meme par la violence 

 de ses mouvemens ; le geologiste, qui ne voit ailleurs que 

 1'ecorce exterieure du globe, en trouve la les masses cen- 

 trales, relevees et pergant de toute part leurs enveloppes, 

 pour se montrer a ses yeux ; en fin, le meteorologiste y 

 peut a chaque instant observer la formation des nuages, 

 penetrer dans leur interieur, ou s'elever au-dessus d'eux."* 



The second volume opens with the eloge of Fourcroy, 

 the brilliant, the eloquent, the calumniated Fourcroy. The 

 struggles of his youth, and his vigorous resistance of injus- 

 tice and poverty, the account of his discoveries, all form 

 one of the most powerful pieces of biography ever read. 

 The following description of his lectures recalls those of the 

 author, and, in many instances, is equally applicable to 



* How delighted is the traveller when, in a beautiful summer's day, af- 

 ter having with difficulty traversed the summits of the Jura, he arrives in 

 this ravine, where the immense bason of Geneva suddenly opens before 

 him, when at one glance he sees this beautiful lake, the waters of which 

 reflect the blue of heaven more deeply and more purely: this vast country, 

 so well cultivated and peopled by smiling habitations ; the hills which rise 

 by degrees, clothed with the richest vegetation ; the mountains, covered 

 with evergreen forests ; the frown ing crests of the High Alps, above this 

 superb amphitheatre ; and Mont Blanc, the giant of European mountains, 

 crowning the immense group of snows, where the disposal of the masses, 

 and the contrasts of light and shade, produce an effect which no expression 

 can convey to those who have not seen it. 



And this beautiful country, so calculated to strike the imagination, to 

 feed the talent of the poet or the artist, is perhaps still more so to awaken 

 the curiosity of the philosopher, and to excite the researches of the follow- 

 er of natural philosophy. It is truly there that nature seems to delight in 

 showing herself under a number of different aspects. 



The rarest plants, from those of temperate countries to those of the 

 Frozen Zone, only cost the botanist a few steps. The zoologist may there 

 pursue insects as varied as the vegetation which nourishes them. The 

 lake there forms, from its depth and extent, and even its violent move- 

 ments, a sort of sea for the natural philosopher; the geologist, who, else- 

 where, sees but the external rind of the globe, there finds central masses, 

 thrown up, and in every part piercing their envelopes, and showing them- 

 selves to his eyes ; lastly, the meteorologist can there observe the clouds at 

 every instant, penetrate within them, or raise himself above them. 



