BARON CUVIEIl. 309 



was about to happen, I should have left Madame 

 Cuvier ?" To those who knew the man, this 

 answer was the best refutation to such supposi- 

 tions. The fact was, that the opportunities of 

 absenting himself were lare, and feeling the 

 necessity of coming to England for scientific 

 purposes, more especially connected with his 

 great work on fishes ; feeling, also, that a change 

 was required by his constitution, so overcharged 

 with mental labour, a mere apprehension was not 

 likely to deter him from a project which had 

 been delayed in its execution by a concurrence 

 of untoward circumstances. Till M. Arago was 

 elected in the place of Baron Fourrier, M. Cuvier 

 could not quit his Secretaryship of the Academy 

 of Sciences, the duties of which were doubled 

 by the death of the latter ; and, further than that, 

 it was requisite for him to read his admirable 

 (^loges on Sir Humphry Davy and M. Vauquelin, 

 at the next general meeting of the Institute, and 

 the postponement of that meeting threw another 

 obstacle in the way of his immediate departure. 

 I have already mentioned how deceived he was 

 by the apparent tranquillity of Paris on tlie 

 morning in which he left it, and how he was in- 

 duced to proceed, even after he had determined 

 to return from Calais. 



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