BARON CUVlER. 83 



phant, the long neck of the giraffe, the massive 

 bulk of the whale, the hand-like fins of the dol- 

 phin, the strength and vigour of the horse, the 

 solemn force of the bull, and the light and ele- 

 gant action of the antelope, may all be traced in 

 these frame works of creation ; and as the visitor 

 quits the galleries, I think I cannot be wrong in 

 supposing, that he will own his personal insigni- 

 ficance in the great scale, his conviction of the 

 adaptation of nature to all the purposes for 

 which it is intended, and will learn to respect 

 that being of his own species, who, by his in- 

 fluence, his personal exertion, amassed, and, by 

 his wisdom, set before him, the marvellous 

 works which he has just been contemplating. 



With so perfect a knowledge of the formation 

 of living beings, it scarcely seems surprising that 

 M. Cuvier should have made those deep re- 

 searches among the fragments of the former in- 

 habitants of the globe, by which his great name 

 has been associated with every labour relative to 

 the construction of the earth. For although 



o 



the researches of De Saussure, De Luc, Pallas, 

 and Werner, appeared to have brought geology 

 to the highest perfection it could attain, it was 

 M. Cuvier who gave the impulse, who made a 

 science of fossil organic remains. His powerful 



G 2 



