74 MEMOIRS OF 



ideas, and eloquence of language, M. Cuvier 

 has in this, as well as his other scientific labours, 

 affirmed only *' that which he has seen and 

 touched," and, far from wisliing to persuade by 

 other means than positive evidence, he presents 

 his readers with nothing that can draw the mind 

 from the contemplation of reality. From this 

 work we may deduce certain general rules, cer- 

 tain axioms, w^hich may apply to every part of 

 animal life, in every corner of the world. Let 

 us take the single instance of a person ship- 

 wrecked in an unknown sea, and cast up by the 

 waves on a shore wholly strange to him. To- 

 wards the means of life are directed the eflbrts 

 of returning consciousness : vegetables will first 

 offer themselves to his notice, as most easily 

 procured ; but an anatomist will know, that his 

 teeth and organs of digestion were given to him 

 that he might repair the exhaustion of his frame 

 by animal substances, and that without these he 

 will not be so healthy and strong as nature 

 intended he should be. A single bone, acci- 

 dentally lying in his path, will tell him, if this 

 comparatively desert country contains animals 

 against which he must provide means of de- 

 fence ; but what will be his joy, if this single 

 bone informs him, that ruminating animals exist 



