200 MEMOIRS OF 



PART IV. 



In the first part of this volume, I have, by a 

 narrative of the principal events of the Baron 

 Cuvier's life, endeavoured to show his progress 

 towards fame and honour, and to expose the cir- 

 cumstances which tended to the perfection of 

 one of Nature's noblest productions. In the 

 second, I have, notwithstanding the difficulties 

 of such a task, and a strong feeling of my own 

 weakness, tried to give an outline of M. Cuvier's 

 principal works, of his most important disco- 

 veries, and the immense advantages that science 

 has derived from each. In the third, I have 

 studied to lay before the reader all the good he 

 effected, and all the evil he prevented during 

 his administrative career ; and, by so doing, I 

 have set forth all his titles to the grateful ad- 

 miration of mankind. I am now about to at- 

 tempt a more particular description of the cha- 

 racter, the private virtues, and domestic habits of 

 the great man, whom I have so often admired in 

 the midst of his family, surroimded by friends, 

 and performing the honours of his house to a 



