102 MEMOIRS OF 



with a sort of fearfulness that I cite a few iso- 

 lated passages, for fear of injuring the rest. 

 There must, however, necessarily be a degree of 

 imperfection where we can only judge by parts, 

 detached from a whole, which is so beautiful 

 when entire ; and again impressing on my 

 readers that this volume is intended to lay be- 

 fore them the man himself, and describe his 

 labours, not to review or criticise them, I have 

 less hesitation in proceeding. 



The gradual developement of great facts, the 

 doubts existing in the mind of tlie author at 

 certain periods of his progress, the confirmation 

 or dissipation of these doubts, tlie methods em- 

 ployed to ascertain tlie truth, the sacrifice of one 

 part of a fossil to verify another, the ingenious 

 contrivances for separating the remains from the 

 surrounding mass, the application of plaster mo- 

 dels, which not only brought liim faithful im- 

 pressions of those which he could not procure, 

 from distant countries, but distributed his own 

 to every part of the world ; are all related in 

 the course of the work with the most beautiful 

 simplicity. When speaking of the sarigue*, M, 

 Cuvier says, " This rich collection of the bones 

 and skeletons of the animals of a former world 



* A species of opossum. 



