so MEMOIRS OF 



M. Duvaucel. But well had M. Cuvier judged 

 of the best means of securing domestic enjoy- 

 ment ; for this lady, who is a rare combination 

 of mind, manner, and disposition, threw a bright 

 halo of happiness round him, which was his sup- 

 port in suffering, his refuge in trouble, and a 

 powerfid auxihary, when his heavy and import- 

 ant duties allowed him to steal an iiour of ra- 

 tional and unrestrained conversation. By this 

 marriage he had four children, the first of whom, 

 a son, died a few weeks after his birth, and who 

 were all successively taken from him. 



In 1808, in his character of Perpetual Secre- 

 tary, M. Cuvier wrote a Report on the Progress 

 of Natural Sciences, from the year 1789. A 

 mere report was demanded ; but under this title 

 the learned author produced one of the most 

 luminous treatises that had ever appeared, 



talent and courage, while travelling in India and the neigh- 

 bouring islands for four years, in order to make collec- 

 tions for the museum in Paris, expired at Madras, at an 

 early age, lamented by all as a youth of great promise, and 

 the most endearing qualities. One of the survivors holds a 

 high place in the customs of Bordeaux ; and the other, who 

 has been loved and cherished by M. Cuvier as his own 

 daughter, has had the happiness of devoting herself to him 

 in his last moments, and now forms the sole consolation of 

 her afflicted mother. 



