BARON CUVIER. Ill 



surface of their bodies ; the greater number have 

 but one bag without issue for an intestine, and 

 the last families only present a sort of homo- 

 geneous pulp, movable, and sensible to the 

 touch." Here I must again impress on the 

 reader, that M. Cuvier's hrst great discovery 

 was the necessity of sejDarating this last form of 

 animals from the general mass of insects and 

 w^orms, having read his Memoir, pointing out 

 the characters and limits of mollusca, echi- 

 nodermes, and zoophytes, to the Society of 

 Natural History in Paris, on the 10th of May, 

 1795. From this he ascended to animals of more 

 complicated form, for it is only a man of narrow 

 mind that can treat any part of natural history 

 with contempt. All others will see in it " a con- 

 tinuance of that command given to Adam, to 

 see, to name, and to use the creatures put under 

 his control." No branch of it, however trifling, 

 but may be ennobled by the manner in which it 

 is pursued ; and when the student carries all its 

 wonders back to the one Great Source, the 

 smallest worm and tlie most beautiful of his 

 own species will afford him subjects for the 

 deepest contemplation. 



The Regne Animal begins with that being 

 which most interests us, of which there is but 



