Documents in Commemoration of Baron Cuvier. 303 
Gt sor ear 3 Feet. Inches. 
et Total length, = Rc! er 7 - 20 6 ; 
_ To the pectoral, — ee ee 
.. To the origin of the on - o- Poe 
». Length of the base of the eres - 3.8 
_ The greatest depth, ~ - -- 3k 
... Height of dorsal, - . - ee 
... Length of pectoral, Pn ie a ae 
Art. XIII].—Documents in Commemoration of Baron Cuvier. 
Translated for this Journal by Prof. Griscom. 
2¥ Memoir of G. Cuvier; by A. DeCanno.ie. 
Evrore has sustained an immense and irreparable loss. George 
Cuvier died on the 13th of May last, after an illness of four days by 
a ‘paralysis of the throat, which rapidly reached the organs of respi- 
ration. He was only sixty three years of age, having been born in 
the month of February of that year (1769) which produced so many 
remarkable men,—Napoleon, Chateaubriand, Walter Scott, &c. 
His native town, Montbeliard, since united to France, was then a 
Principality in alliance with Switzerland and dependent on the Duke 
of ° ; His early studies were pursued at the Gymnasium 
of Stuttgardt, and he commenced his career by entering as a sub- 
lieutenant of the Swiss regiment of Chateauvieux: the dissolution of 
this corps restored him to liberty, and he passed the whole of the 
turbulent period of the revolution in the business of education on 
the borders of the sea in Normandy. It was there, as a first essay 
6f his talent, he made his great anatomical discoveries on the mol- 
lusea, and overthrew the zoological classifications which had same 
Universally i in vogue since the period of Aristotle. 
This work, published in 1795, fixed upon him the attention sii the 
med world. Geoffroy St. Hilaire had the honor of first per- © 
ceiving the importance of his discoveries, and contributed to the ad- 
ement of their author. Guvier was called almost immediately 
to take a part in the class of science of the Institute, and to supply 
the place of the aged Mertrud as professor of comparative anatomy 
in the Garden of Plants. His lectures soon became remarkable for 
their ¢ and eloquence, and attracted crowds of students.” 
at this time to be threatened with phthisis, and he has 
