178 MEMOIRS OF 



mouth, indicate that death had laid his icy hand upon 

 them , but they had only to turn to the despairing looks, 

 the heart-rending grief, or the mute anguish of those 

 around, to be convinced that all human efforts are unavail- 

 ing, when Heaven recalls its own.* 



The perfect disinterestedness of M. Cuvier's character, the 

 remarkable liberality of his disposition, the sums he so de- 

 lightedly bestowed on science, in a dearth of other proofs, 

 would all be established by the moderate fortune he left to > 

 his family. After having filled such high offices in the 

 state ; after having executed, under the magnificent govern- 

 ment of the empire, missions which a man thirsting after 

 wealth would have turned to his pecuniary advantage ; all 

 the fortune he amassed amounted but to four thousand 

 pounds sterling ; his library had cost him a similar sum ;t 



* Germany lost her great Goethe in this year. France, besides the 

 iCbove calamitous privation, was bereaved of Champollion, Casimir Per- 

 rier, and Abel Remusat; and Great Britain, of Sir Walter Scott and 

 Sir John Leslie: the preceding year had been her greatest trial ; for in 

 it she was deprived of Sir Humphry Davy, Dr. Young, and Dr. Wol- 

 laston, &c. 



f To the books purchased by himself were added those published at the 

 expense of the Government, copies of which were always presented to hint ; 

 and the numerous gifts he received from authors of all countries, who were 

 universally anxious to pay him this mark of respect, even if their works 

 did not treat of Natural History. Altogether amounted to more than nine- 

 teen thousand volumes, besides pamphlets, atlasses, &c., and many of 

 which contained his own notes. It was very desirable that this library 

 should remain entire, for the use of students ; and such being Madame 

 Cuvier's wish, the legatees, consisting of M. F. Cuvier, his son, M. Valen- 

 ciennes, and M. Laurillard, accepted the value of their portions as mere 

 books, and the Government agreed to purchase the whole. The sum wa 

 voted at the same time as Madame Cuvier's pension ; and much is it to be 

 regretted that the value of books has of late years so much diminished in 

 France: however it is much more vexatious, that no building can be found 

 to contain this collection, where it might be consulted in its entire state by 

 the public ; and it is therefore to be divided between the Schools of Law and 

 Medicine, the Normal School, and the Jardin des Plantes, where many 

 volumes will enter as duplicates. The apartments in which these treasure's 

 were contained, were a continuation of M. Cuvier's own dwelling, and had 

 been originally used for the forage of the menagerie. On this being re- 

 moved to the building called the Rotonde, Baron Cuvier asked permission 

 of the Board of Administration of the Jardin, to take these granaries into 

 his own hands, and convert them, at his own expense, into a suite of 

 rooms. This cost him 1640/., which gave him a right to ask for a dwell- 

 ing for his family after his death; a right which was graciously confirmed 

 by his present Majesty. In these rooms the great savant carried on hi* 

 Tast labours and meditations, working in each according to the subject oa 



