146 MEMOIRS OP 



previous pages of these memoirs, was originally Swiss j 

 and, being driven to Montb6liard in consequence of 

 professing the reformed faith, settled there as a remote 

 province of Germany, and where some of the mem- 

 bers of it held important charges. His uncle was a minis- 

 ter of the Lutheran religion, and his father an officer in a 

 Swiss regiment then in the service of France. I am led to 

 dwell on these two circumstances, from errors committed by 

 several writers, who have stated M. Cuvier to have entered 

 the church ; and also a mistake made by M. Decandolle, a 

 very old and esteemed friend of M. Cuvier, and the learned 

 botonist of Geneva. This gentleman asserts, in his funeral 

 eloge of M . Cuvier, that the latter entered the army, which 

 assertion is wholly without foundation ; and it is very pro- 

 bable that both errors have arisen from some confusion be- 

 tween the father, the uncle, and the son. 



There is yet another erroneous report, which I am de- 

 sirous of correcting; and that is, the late developement of 

 M. Cuvier's talents for natural history. So far is the fact 

 contrary to this, that, even while at the preparatory school 

 of Montbeliard, his greatest happiness was to read Buffon, 

 to copy the plates, and to colour them according to their de- 

 scriptions. When arrived at Stuttgardt, his studies took a 

 higher flight ; and he chose that faculty which allowed him 

 to pursue his favourite occupation. As age increased, his 

 boyish pleasure became, as it were, a passion, and he inces- 

 santly pored over all the books he could find on this subject. 

 He dissected the only things within his reach, such as in- 

 sects and plants ; he made an excellent collection of the 

 latter, and discovered several species, in the neighbourhood 

 of Stuttgardt, which were not previously known to exist 

 there. He kept a number of living insects in his room, con- 

 .stantly feeding them, and watching their habits. It was 

 there that he made many of the drawings spoken of in Part 

 II., and which form several thick volumes. I have two of 

 these, which show that the hand of the master guided him 

 even at this early age. Knowing the great interest he felt 

 in such productions, in one of my visits to Paris, I took a 

 collection of original drawings for his inspection. Every 

 evening during my stay there, he asked for my book, and 

 one morning entered the breakfast-room with a huge quarto 



