92 MEMOIRS OF 



which they have been preserved, and having 

 decidedly proved, that the more ancient the 

 formation, the more distant are its organic re- 

 mains from those now existing, M. Cuvier de- 

 termined to observe and describe all those con- 

 tained in a limited circumference round Paris. 

 Already had he employed an intelligent work- 

 man*, whom he himself paid, in the quarries at 

 Montmartre, to collect the bones for him which 

 were almost daily found in that spot. He 

 spared no expense, rewarded all contributors 

 with the greatest liberality, and joyfully spent 

 considerable sums on that collection, which, 

 when his publications had given it the highest 

 value, he afterwards presented to the Museum 

 of the Jardin des Plantes, only receiving in 

 return, duplicates from the public library, of 

 those works which were wanting in his own 

 magnificent assemblage of books. Before M. 

 Cuvier found an opportunity of publishing his 

 discoveries, by means of the Annales du Mu- 

 seum, and when the expense of employing pro- 

 fessed artists would have been too much for his 

 means, he not only drew, but engraved the 

 plates himself; which precious proofs of his 



* Named Vaiiii. 



