Documents in Commemoration of Baron Cuvier. 305 



to its guidance j a second edition which has since appeared, has 

 proved its success. Cuvier was assisted in this labor by his friend 

 Latreille in the class of insects, which is alone more numerous than 

 the whole of the animal kingdom besides, and which would require 

 the entire hfe of a laborious naturalist ; but he had induced this able 

 entomologist, to deviate in some respects from his accustomed track, 

 in order that his portion might quadrate with the other parts of the 

 system. 



The arranging of this work enabled its author to perceive how 

 greatly the study of fishes was in arrear with other divisions of zoo- 

 logy. It taught him the difficulties which had accumulated in this 

 branch of science, both by the obscurity of the anatomy of these an- 

 imals and the impossibility of discovering with precision the laws of 

 the comparison of organs, by the want of large collections, and per- 

 haps also by the too artificial methods which had till then regulated 

 the study of Ichthyology. He used his influence in procuring for the 

 Museum of Paris, specimens of fishes from all parts of the world, 

 and such was his success in this search after the materials of his sci- 

 ence, that the number of fish in the museum, which scarcely exceed- 

 ed a thousand species, was increased in a few years to about six thou- 

 sand. He anatomized a great number of them with a care before 

 unknown. He associated himself in these details, Mr. Vallencien- 

 nes, a meritorious young man, with whose aid he was enabled in a 

 space of time, which considering the immensity of the results, may 

 be deemed very short, to form the elements of his great work on 

 the history of fish, the first volumes of which have appeared, and 

 the conclusions of which may be expected from his laborious coad- 

 jutor. The recent embarrassment of the book trade somewhat re- 

 tarded its progress, and as the portion digested was in advance with 

 the press, he was revising his lessons on comparative anatomy, pre- 

 paratory to a second edition which has been long and greatly wanted. 

 " It will be (he wrote on the 26th of April, to the author of this brief 

 memoir) almost a new work, so numerous are the facts derivable from 

 our immense collections, and from the labors of other anatomists 

 since the first edition ; but I see with pleasure that the frame of it 

 will need but little change, and that it is still preferable, (at least in 

 ray opinion) to the plans which have been since adopted by other 

 Savans. Nevertheless, (adds he) I shall by no means renounce (if 

 I live) my labors on the large comparative anatomy, for which I have 

 already thousands of large drawings." This project constantly 

 Vol. XXIIL— No. 2. ^39 



