AND CLASSIFICATION. 19 
structural characters on which to unite them, 
and the groups so founded generally correspond 
with the combinations suggested by their ap- 
pearance. 
By a like process Lamarck combined animals 
into families. His method was adoptcd by 
French naturalists generally, and found favor 
especially with Cuvier, who was particularly 
successful in limiting families among animals, 
and in naming them happily, generally selecting 
names expressive of the features on which the 
groups were founded, or borrowing them from 
familiar animals. Much, indeed, depends upon 
the pleasant sound and the significance of a 
name ; for an idea reaches the mind more easily 
when well expressed, and Cuvier’s names were 
both simple and significant. His descriptions 
are also remarkable for their graphic precision, 
— giving all that is essential, omitting all that 
is merely accessory. He has given us the key- 
note to his progress in his own expressive lan- 
guage :— 
“ Je dus done, et cette obligation me prit un 
vemps considérable, je dus faire marcher de front 
Vanatomie et la zoologie, les dissections et le 
classement; chercher dans mes premiéres re- 
margues sur l’organisation des distributions 
meilleures ; m’en servir pour. arriver 4 des re- 
marques nouvelles; employer encore ces re- 
