132 MEMOIRS OF 



a record of tlie labours of contemporaries. Not 

 a word of his own opinions or feelings escapes 

 him ; he mentions his own works with the most 

 perfect modesty and simplicity, and scrupulously 

 states, with invariable fidelity, every argument 

 brought forward, even against his own views 

 and sentiments. 



Besides these annual reports, M. Cuvier was 

 charged by the Emperor with a uew task, which 

 he thus announces in a letter to his friend M. Du- 

 vernoy : — " All my labours are nearly arrested 

 by a work demanded by the Emperor, the greater 

 part of which has devolved upon me as secretary 

 to the class (of natural sciences). It is a history 

 of the march and progress of the human mind 

 since 1789. You may suppose to what a degree 

 this is a complicated undertaking, respecting 

 natural sciences ; thus I have already written a 

 volume, without having nearly reached the end ; 

 but this history is so rich, there is such a beau- 

 tiful mass of discoveries, that I have become 

 interested in it, and work at it with pleasure. I 

 hope it will be a striking dissertation on literary 

 and philosophical history ; but above all things, I 

 endeavour to point out the real views which 

 ought to guide ulterior researches." It may be 

 considered as a w^ork of the same nature as those 



