PREFACE. IX 



our time, Cuvier, the celebrated Professor of 

 Natural History in Paris, has eminently distin- 

 guished himself by his numerous discoveries, 

 accurate descriptions, and rational views in this 

 subject. His work on Fossil Organic Remains, 

 of which we have given an account in the fol- 

 lowing Illustrations, will always remain a monu- 

 ment worthy of its author. 



The Essay on the Theory of the Earth, now 

 translated, is the introductory part of the great 

 work of Cuvier. The subject of the deluge 

 forms a principal object of this elegant dis- 

 course. After describing the principal results 

 at which the theory of the earth, in his opi- 

 nion, has arrived, he next mentions the various 

 relations which connect the history of the fossil 

 bones of land animals with these results; ex- 

 plains the principles on which is founded the 

 art of ascertaining these bones, or, in other 

 words, of discovering a genus, and of distin- 

 guishing a species, by a single fragment of bone ; 

 and gives a rapid sketch of the results to which 



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