MEMOIR. ill 
made known to this individual the nature of his discovery, when the latter 
exclaimed, “‘ Then I am lost!” ‘“ Lost?” replied the young man; “no, 
no; henceforth you shall be the object of my anxious care.” The fact 
was, that the person spoken of was M. Tessier, who was resident at the 
place in question in a disguised character, having fled from Paris to avoid 
the dangerous chances of the reign of terror. Through M. Tessier, the 
aspiring young naturalist had the gratification of opening a correspondence 
with the most celebrated naturalists of the day. 
In the spring of 1795, the reflecting portion of the Parisian commu- 
nity saw the necessity of making some attempt at restoring at least the 
literary institutions, which with every other means of utility had fallen in 
the recent revolutionary devastation. Cuvier had laid such a foundation 
for the eminence of his character by this time, as to be received into the 
select few who were to take a practical part in the great work of intel- 
lectual renovation; and, being invited to Paris, was at once appointed 
Commissioner of Arts, and Professor at the Central School of the Pan- 
theon. Shortly afterwards, M. Mertrud, who had occupied the chair of 
Comparative Anatomy, finding the duties of his situation too fatiguing 
for a person of his advanced age, obtained the consent of his colleagues, 
the illustrious triumvirate, Jussieu, Geoffroy, and Lacépéde, to appoint 
Cuvier as his assistant. 
In this fortunate promotion, Cuvier saw that he had passed the portals 
of that high way of fame to which all his ambition had been directed. 
It was towards the close of 1795, that he fixed his residence at the Gar- 
den of Plants, and a moment did not pass after he became master of a 
comfortable home, before he determined on sharing it with his aged 
father and his brother, the only members remaining of his immediate 
family. 
In a letter, which is found prefixed to the first volume of his Compa- 
rative Anatomy, and which was addressed by Cuvier to Mertrud, he re- 
fers to various circumstances connected with this critical epoch of his 
career. John Claude Mertrud held the situation of Demonstrator of 
Anatomy in the Garden of Plants, from 1750 up to the period when he 
was appointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy. He assisted Dauben- 
‘ton in the great Natural History; and his services to Buffon are recorded 
by the latter in terms such as the highest esteem and the warmest affec- 
tion alone could dictate. In this epistle Cuvier particularly refers to the 
progress which comparative anatomy was then making; and he shewed 
how the learned men formerly connected with the National Museum of 
Natural History, at Paris, strove to aid and promote that science. With 
respect to those who then filled the offices of the former, Cuvier thus 
addresses his friend and master:—‘‘ The learned men who compose the 
b 2 
