BARON CUVIER. 79 



throughout is very evident, for the prizes were 

 never even mentioned afterwards. The reports, 

 however, have been collected, and form a very 

 curious quarto volume. 



From the writhigs on Comparative Anatomy, 

 I naturally turn to that vast collection of the 

 subjects themselves, formed by M. Cuvier at the 

 Jardin des Plantes ; and when I repeat, that this 

 collection was not only the principal source from 

 which he drew the materials for the great work 

 just mentioned, but was the basis for most others, 

 it is scarcely necessary for me to enter into many 

 details concerning it : to its leading features I 

 shall therefore confine myself. It is contained 

 in fifteen rooms of various sizes ; and in these 

 fifteen rooms we may verify almost every fact 

 stated by M. Cuvier, by actual inspection ; and 

 we are lost in admiration, not only at the vast 

 operations of nature, but at the mind which ap- 

 preciated them, and made them known to his 

 fellow men. The collection should be viewed 

 by beginning at the room up stairs, which is 

 farthest from the entrance, and which communi- 

 cates with M. Cuvier's house. In this are the 

 Mollusca, and at once assuming the character of 

 a person wholly ignorant of anatomy, I cannot 

 do better than describe the probable impressions 



