326 MEMOIRS OF 



any object of natural history at his own expense, 

 original cost and freight included, from every 

 quarter of the globe j not for himself, but to 

 present it to the Museum : and if to these be 

 added his hospitality, and his generous assist- 



the use of students ; and such being Madame Cuvier's wish, 

 the legatees, consisting of M. F. Cuvier, his son, M, Valen- 

 ciennes, and M. Laurillard, accepted the value of their por- 

 tions as mere books, and the Government agreed to purchase 

 the whole. The sum was voted at the same time as Madame 

 Cuvier's pension ; and much is it to be regretted that the 

 value of books has of late years so much diminished in France : 

 however, it is much more vexatious, that no building can be 

 found to contain this collection, where it might be consulted 

 in its entire state by the public ; and it is therefore to be di- 

 vided between the Schools of Law and Medicine, the Normal 

 School, and the Jardin des Plantes, where many volumes 

 will enter as duplicates. The apartments in which these 

 treasures were contained, were a continuation of M. Cuvier's 

 own dwelling, and had been originally used for the forage of 

 the menagerie. On this being removed to the building called 

 the Rotonde, Baron Cuvier asked permission of the Board of 

 Administration of the Jardin, to take these granaries into his 

 own hands, and convert them, at his own expense, into a 

 suite of rooms. This cost him ] 64-0/., which gave him aright 

 to ask for a dwelling for his family after his death ; a right 

 which was graciously confirmed by his present Majesty. In 

 these rooms the great savant carried on his vast labours and 

 meditations, working in each according to the subject on 

 which he was employed : they made his house appear large 5 

 but, in reality, the habitable part of it was scarcely of sufficient 

 extent for his comfort, when it is considered how many 

 visitors he was there obliged, by his places, to entertain. 



