138 MEMOIRS OF 



importance, and that in the special histories which 

 his numerous labours have permitted him to write, 

 he has not neglected a single thing which belongs 

 to the existence of the being which ]ie describes. 

 Others have only admired the general views and 

 lofty style of Bufibn, without remarking that he 

 only decorated a series of facts, collected with 

 the most judicious criticism, with these brilliant 

 ornaments ; and even that nomenclature, which 

 they affect to despise, is always established by him 

 with great erudition, after the most careful and 

 ingenious discussion." I close this extract with 

 a remark made upon M.Cuvier by M.Duvernoy, 

 who has also cited the above passage in an 61oge 

 on his illustrious master, addressed to his dis- 

 ciples at Strasburgh. — " May we not say, after 

 this, that he who so well appreciated these great 

 men, who so happily found in tlie one, that 

 which was wanting in the other, knew liow to 

 unite the excellencies of both in his own writings; 

 or rather, that liis genius, in its originality, had 

 nothing incomplete, notliing which could make 

 us feel the want of the true method on one side, 

 nor the absence of general views on the other." 

 A list of tlie articles contributed by M, Cu- 

 vier to the above mentioned Dictionnaire will 

 be found among the catalogue of his works at 



