200 Biographical Notice of 
Cuvier asked him to communicate it to him. The traveller 
merely replied, ‘‘ In order that it may be at your disposal 
more readily, I am about to publish it.” 
Urged on by a restive disposition, in a manner contrary to 
the feeling of fidelity which at heart he seriously entertained, 
M de Blainville allowed himself to go the length of break- 
ing off altogether under frivolous pretexts. 
M. Cuvier regretted his loss of the important aid of waigh 
and rare intelligence; but he was well aware that the 
advantages of contradiction would not be wanting to him. 
As to M. de Blainville, he deprived himself of an incalcul- 
able advantage, in the loss of intimate intercourse with a 
superior mind, replenished with all the qualities calculated 
to moderate and direct—sound reason, calm and enlight- 
ened thought, and that prevailing good sense, which is the 
real master and final judge of every thing in this world. 
In every vicissitude of life, the energetic individual whose _ 
character I am considering seems to have found a new 
strength in labour. He astonished his contemporaries by 
the vigour with which he prosecuted his studies. Profound 
researches, bold discussions, deep historical synopsis, nothing 
could wear out the resources of this ardent and versatile 
spirit. 
In 1822, he published the first volume of a general treatise 
on Comparative Anatomy. With this work appeared a new 
doctrine. 
M. Cuvier had improved Comparative Anatomy by the ex- 
perimental method, which proceeds from facts to ideas. All 
M.de Blainville’s efforts, and all his works, were directed to 
an opposite method. 
His first care is to form an abstract type of a living 
being. Buffon had said: ““We may distinguish two parts 
in the animal economy, the first of which acts perpetually 
without any interruption, and the second acts only by inter- 
vals. The action of the heart and lungs appears to belong 
_ to the former; the action of the senses, and the movement 
of the body and limbs, to the latter.” 
This view became, with Bicbat, the principle of his famous 
distinction of the two lives—organic life and animal life. 
