BARON CUVIER. 2.'51 



cares of M. Ciivier, and the extent to which he 

 carried his anxious endeavours, I now quote a 

 discourse deh'vered after his death. In tliis we 

 have not only the words of tlie superintendent 

 of an important establishment, but his own in 

 evidence of the extreme interest he felt in this 

 primary branch of education. This discourse 

 emanated from M. Reynal, Rector of the Aca- 

 demy of Bourges, and was delivered at the dis- 

 tribution of prizes in the protestant school of 

 Arni^res. 



" My dear children, — The faithful followers 

 of our church have spared sufficient from their 

 own wants to build a school for you, and to 

 afford you all that is desirable for your instruc- 

 tion. The academy Cof Bourges) has associated 

 itself with them in this work of devotion and 

 self-sacrifice ; it has already done much, and 

 will do still more, by appealing in your behalf to 

 the benevolent protection of the university. You 

 see, my dear children, that you have friends and 

 benefactors every where. But, alas ! he is no 

 more — he who held the first rank among them! 

 A premature death has snatched him from sci- 

 ence, from literature, from your bretlu'en, from 

 us, from all mankind. The whole of the learned 

 world deplores his loss. You are too young, 



