lV MEMOIR. 
present administration of the Museum, are worthy of imitating the glo- 
rious examples of their predecessors. I have received from them, as 
well as from you, all the assistance I could have expected from an en- 
lightened love for science, rendered more grateful by all the attentions the 
most generous friendship could suggest. Nothing has been spared that 
could lead to discoveries, or to the completion of the system of our know- 
ledge in comparative anatomy. The correspondents of the Museum 
have imitated the example of its depositaries. Citizen Baillon, in parti- 
cular, so well known by the valuable observations which he furnished to 
Buffon, and by those which he continues to make, procured me, with un- 
exampled zeal and generosity, the rarest birds and fishes. Citizen Hom- 
bert, of Havre, who has applied, with the greatest success, to the study 
of Mollusca and Sea Worms, has favoured me witha great number of 
these animals, the perfect preservation of which rendered their examina- 
tion exceedingly useful. Citizens Beauvois, Bosc, and Olivier, the two 
first returned from North America, the third from Egypt and Persia, 
have kindly communicated to me some of the valuable specimens they 
have brought to Europe. I have, therefore, no reason to envy the good 
fortune of Aristotle, when a conqueror, who was the friend of the sciences, 
made other men subservient to him, and placed millions at his disposal, 
to enable him to forward the history of Nature. 
“ This assertion will not surprise, when it is known that I have been 
permitted to dissect, not only the animals which have died im the mena- 
gerie, but also those which have been brought, during a great number of 
years, from all parts of the world, and preserved in spirits. Time only 
was capable of bringing this collection to its present degree of perfection, 
and has, in this instance, performed what no other power was capable of 
accomplishing. 
“In opening to me your treasures—in admitting me to a share of the 
labours necessary to their arrangement and their augmentation, you have 
imposed upon me only one condition: that is, to enable other naturalists to 
enjoy them, by giving such a description of them as they merit. You know 
with what assiduity I endeavour to perform this task, but you also 
know better than any other what time such a work requires. However 
rich may be the acquisitions that are made, more will still be desired. 
Sometimes a new species is discovered, which we wish to compare with 
those we already know. Sometimes the consideration of an organ induces 
us to make further attempts to develope its structure. On other occa- 
sions it is necessary to extend our observations; because something re- 
mains to be learned respecting the object as a whole, or the relation of its 
parts. In natural history, in particular, we are always dissatisfied with 
what we perform, for Nature proves to us, at each step, that she is imex- 
haustible.” 
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