306 Documents in Commemoration of Baron Cuvier. 



cherished, and at which he had labored so many years, seemed to him 

 to be a needful finish to all his works; but the melancholy doubt ex- 

 pressed in his letter (if I live) was but too soon verified. It would 

 be the most appropriate honor that could be rendered to the glory of 

 Cuvier to publish those original drawings, the perfection of which is 

 known to all, and which, joined to the new edition of his comparative 

 anatomy, would supply in part the great work which he had in pros- 

 pect. Thus the man whose fruitful labors (not to mention his genius) 

 all Europe has admired, has left, inedited, immense works, which 

 would seem to demand the devotion of a whole life. 



We may now ask, did this laborious attention to natural history, 

 exclude him from other literary pursuits ? Certainly not. Read the 

 eulogies which he pronounced as perpetual secretary of the Acade- 

 my of Sciences, in which pass in review so many men and so great 

 a variety of subjects ! From the depth of acquirements which he dis- 

 played, for example, in the account which he gave of the labors of 

 Adanson, we are certain that none but a naturalist of the first order 

 could have written it; but in reading his account of Bonnet, or 

 Priestley we discover that no branch of human knowledge was foreign 

 to him : in that of Lemonier, he betrays the man of sensibility, and the 

 taste and graceful imagination of a scholar. Throughout these produc- 

 tions, are intermingled the most profound reflexions on the progress of 

 science, the most penetrating views of human nature and of the social 

 condition of the period in which he lived. In all is there inter- 

 mingled that love of virtue, that feeling of the dignity of intellec- 

 tual power which was one of the liveliest impressions of his mind : 

 It is to this elevated sentiment that we must attribute the impartiality 

 of his eulogies, of his reports, and his literary and scientific decisions, 

 the entire absence of all intrigue, the zeal which he manifested for 

 all the establishments with which he was connected, the ardor with 

 which he protected and encouraged young men of talents, and the 

 noble disinterestedness which induced him to spare no expense in 

 the prosecution of his scientific labors. 



His talents for administration were at first displayed in their influence 

 upon natural history. He may be said to have almost created, (so graat 

 were the changes and enlargements which he effected) the cabinet of 

 comparative anatomy which constitutes one of the most admirable 

 portions of the Paris museum of natural history, now the admiration 

 of Europe. Frequently placed, by the choice of his colleagues, at 

 the head of that establishment, he powerfully contributed to its prog- 



