xiv MEMOIR. 
alist as time went on, and at the coronation of Charles X. he officiated 
as President of the Council. He received from that monarch the deco- 
ration of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, and to his sole super- 
intendence were left the whole of the religious communities of France, 
which were unconnected with the prevailing faith. The calamities which 
multiplied so unhappily in his domestic life, were increased to a degree 
almost beyond endurance, in 1827, by the death of the only relic of the 
general wreck of his children, in the continuance of whose society he had 
any reason to confide. His daughter Clementine had attained her twenty- 
second year, and had then been bound to her parents by bonds of the 
dearest connection. But she fell like a flower in her prime, and left her 
parents to seek that consolation in their affliction which can only be ob- 
tained from Heaven. Cuvier manifested but too tenderly, for along time 
afterwards, the effect of his privations. 
In 1830, Cuvier resumed the office of Lecturer at the College of 
France, and delivered a series of discourses on the progress of science in 
all ages, which shewed the most extraordinary erudition. In 1832, he 
was elevated to the rank of a Peer of France, and received the appoint- 
ment of President of the Council. 
We now approach the only repugnant portion of our task—the account 
of Cuvier’s death. We, of course, have no other materials to refer to 
than those furnished by the immediate friends of the deceased, and 
amongst these, the report of M. Rousseau, the assistant of the Baron at 
the Garden of Plants, and who was in close attendance upon him during 
the whole of his last illness, appears to be that which deserves the 
greatest confidence. It appears from the statement of this gentleman, 
that, ‘on Monday the 7th of May, 1832, M. Cuvier had slight diarrhcea, 
with disturbance of the bowels, for which he took a lavement, with some 
drops of laudanum in it. On Tuesday he felt quite well, and gave his 
accustomed lecture at the College of France with even more than his 
usual energy; so much so, indeed, that he was covered with perspiration 
at its conclusion. The day was rather cold, and M. Cuvier walked home, 
contrary to his ordinary custom. He dined as well as usual, and in the 
evening attended a soirée of the Professors at the Museum, where he 
talked a good deal. It was on the next morning, Wednesday, that he 
complained of the stiffness and difficulty of moving his right upper ex- 
tremity; yet he attended the Council of State, and on his return had an 
appetite for dinner; but though he could eat his soup well enough, he 
was surprised to find that it was almost impossible for him to swallow any 
thing more solid. That night leeches were applied to the anus. On 
Thursday the right arm was perfectly paralyzed; deglutition was more 
difficult than ever; but he could walk about very well. The pulse was 
