36 MErviOlRS OF 



external forms and classification to others, and confined 

 himself solely to their internal structure. 



After thus noticing the earliest scientific labours of M. 

 Cuvier, which, in fact, were the preparations for all that 

 followed, I think it best to proceed to that on which he bas- 

 ed the great works of a later period, considering the 

 Tableau Elementaire, and the two editions of the Regne 

 Animal, as different stages of the same work, and, with 

 the Fossil Remains, and Natural History of Fishes, as the 

 results of his discoveries in comparative anatomy. The 

 collection of M. Cuvier's lectures on this subject is preceded 

 by an introductory letter, addressed to M. Mertrud, in which 

 the author submits the plan of his work, the necessity of 

 such an undertaking, acknowledges the assistance afforded 

 to him, and states the care with which he has revised the 

 whole, previous to its publication. 



The first lecture is a ^ort of preliminary discourse, and 

 bears the general name of Animal Economy. It is, how- 

 ever, divided into five heads, viz. Organic Functions, Struc- 

 ture of the Organs, Differences of Organs, Affinities of 

 Organs, and Division of Animals. From this first lecture 

 I shall make a few extracts, which may enable my readers 

 to form some judgment of the work. 



After examining the nature of the principles of hfe, the 

 learned author establishes the general conclusion, " that no 

 body exists which has not once formed part of a body simi- 

 lar to itself, from which it has been detached ; or, that all 

 bodies have shared the life of another body, before they 

 themselves exercise vital motion ; and it is even by the 

 effect of the vital force, to which they then belonged, that 

 they have become sufficiently developed to support an 

 isolated life." From this conclusion may be deduced the 

 axiom, " that life springs from life, and no other life exists 

 than that which has been transmitted from one living body 



to another, in uninterrupted succession." " Being 



unable to go back to the first origin of living bodies, we 

 have no resource," says M. Cuvier, " but to seek informa- 

 tion concerning the true nature of the forces which animate 

 them, in an examination of their composition ; that is to 

 say, of their substance, and the combination of elements 

 which composes this sujistance or tissue. For although this 



