BARON CUVIER. 173 



hat it was not yet possible for any to be formed." * But 

 ;ven the entire publication of these facts, of these deductions, 

 was denied to us by the inscrutable ways of the Almighty ; per- 

 haps we were not yet worthy of penetrating so deeply into 

 the mysteries of creation as had been given to this one gi- 

 gantic intellect, and I dare not call the death of M. Cuvier 

 premature, when I think that by so doing I should ques- 

 tion the decrees of that Providence to whom we owe the 

 very existence of him whom we deplore, by whom that life 

 was lent to us to increase our sense of his wisdom, and to 

 enlighten us by its example. 



M. Cuvier had sought forgetfulness of the storms that 

 were passing without the walls of his peaceful abode, in a 

 greater devotion than ever to his home pursuits ; that is, he 

 gave up his evening visits, and the few relaxations he had 

 permitted himself to enjoy. The cholera raged around 

 him, and he saw those fall who were younger and appa- 

 rently stronger than himself; those whom he loved, and 

 those whose services were essential to the state. Public 

 disturbances filled the streets of Paris, while pestilence stalk- 

 ed through the multitude in every direction. Secluding 

 himself, then, entirely from society, except that of his fa- 

 mily ; after going through the daily routine of his public 

 duties, he returned to his labours, with an intenseness, 

 which, added to his share of the pervading gloom, was 

 calculated to injure the springs of life. No one, how- 

 ever, could foresee its effects on his constitution; and 

 he himself said, that he had never worked with so much 

 real enjoyment ;" and he rapidly advanced, not only 

 in the vast undertakings then begun, but in the pre- 

 parations for others. On Tuesday, the 8th of May, he 

 opened the third and concluding part of. his course of lec- 

 tures, at the College de France, on the history of Science, 

 &c., by summing up all that had been previously said. 

 He forcibly inveighed against that heresy in natural histo- 

 ry, which derives every thing in this vast universe from 

 one isolated and systematic thought, and shackles the 

 future of science with the fallacious progress of the mo- 



* Laurillard. 

 P* 



