BARON CUVlER. 11 



ry this three days journey without a sensation of fear. He 

 was seated between the Chamberlain and Secretary of the 

 Duke, both entirely unknown to him, and who spoke noth- 

 ing but German the whole way, of which the poor child 

 could not understand one word. On the 4th of May, 1784, 

 he entered the Academic Caroline ; and during the four 

 years he passed there, he studied all that was taught in the 

 highest classes, — mathematics, law, medicine, administra- 

 tion, tactics, commerce, &c. After applying himself for one 

 year to philosophy, as his particular object, he then chose 

 the study of administration, which, in Germany, embraces 

 the practical and elementary parts of law, finance, police, 

 agriculture, technology,* &c., and was principally led to this 

 preference, because it also afforded him many opportunities 

 of pursuing natural history, of herborising, and of visiting 

 collections. He, on all occasions, enthusiastically profited 

 by these opportunities, for the cultivation of his darling 

 taste ; he frequently read over Linnaeus, Reinhart, Mur, 

 and Fabricius. In his walks he collected a very considera- 

 ble herbarium ; and, during his hours of recreation, he 

 drew and coloured an immense number of insects, birds, 

 and plants, with the most surprising correctness and fidehty, 

 and to which drawings he would frequently return with 

 pleasure, when the naturalist was perfect in his career. 

 But it was the same in every thing ; for tliat versatility of 

 talent, which made him the wonder of all who knew him 

 as a man, seems to have distinguished him in early years. 

 He obtained various prizes, and the order of Chevalerie,t — ■ 

 an honour which was only granted to five or six out of four 

 hundred pupils ; and nine months after his arrival at Stutt- 

 gard, he bore off the prize for the German language. 

 The youthful Cuvier was destined solely to fill the higher 



* Technology is the theoretical part of mechanical science, independent 

 of the practical ; a knowledge of which was thought absolutely indispen- 

 sable to one taking a part in administration. 



t The chevaliers dined at a separate table, and enjoyed many advanta- 

 ges, as being under the immediate patronage of the Duke. The lessons of 

 M. Kielmeyer, afterwards called the father of the philosophy of nature, a 

 student much older than himself, were of infinite service to M. Cuvier at 

 this time, as from him he learned to dissect, and with him, Messrs. Pfaff, 

 Marschall, Hartmann, &c. a society of natural history was formed ; and 

 he who brought the best composition to the meetings received an order, 

 beautifully drawn by M. Cuvier. 



