BARON CUVIER. 175 



from every quarter, and exposed in the most 

 beautiibl order ; means were taken for discover- 

 ing the best modes of preserving different parts 

 of organised beings ; and the inanimate remains 

 of birds and quadrupeds re-assumed the appear- 

 ance of life, presenthig the shghtest details of 

 character to the attentive observer, while they 

 astonished the curious by the variety of their 

 forms and the brilliancy of their colours. Dau- 

 benton conceived a vast plan, and, supported by 

 Buffbn, profited by the means his credit afforded. 

 No production of nature was excluded from this 

 temple, and a number of anatomical preparations 

 were collected, which, though less agreeable to 

 the eye, were not less useful to the person who 

 did not limit his researches to the exterior of 

 created beings ; who endeavoured to make a 

 philosophical science of natural history, and to 

 force it to explain its own phenomena. The 

 study and arrangement of these objects became 

 a real passion for Daubenton ; he shut himself 

 up for whole days in the Museum ; he arranged 

 the objects in a thousand different ways ; he 

 scrupulously examined all their parts ; and he 

 tried every possible arrangement until he found 

 that which neither offended the eye nor natural 

 affinities. Thus it is principally to Daubenton 



