192 
Proceedings ofH. M. C. M. Corvette 
[\Jima 
ed tC ! ? 1( I interes ? taken in tliese enquiries, and to the encouragement 
afforded to their pursuit by the French Government. In England a verv dif- 
ferent state of things prevails. There, with a few occasional exceptions, every 
thing is left to private emulation and the promptings of commercial enter- 
prise ; so that those branches of science which do not bear so strongly and 
directly on public utility, as to offer by their cultivation the prospect of fair 
commercial returns, are left altogether to their own unassisted resources. Yet, 
even m the vulgar calculation of pounds, shillings and pence, it is a question, 
whethei the policy of the French Government is not superior to ours. It is at all 
events certain, that their well furnished museums, with the fame of their savant, 
liave the effect of attracting numerous visitors to their capital. It is equally 
t J 3 j lf *r y 0ne f hlr : st after scientific knowledge he will go to Paris, as being 
ntbpr^t?“ d + i here S i l J C 1 t ld ’ with “ a11 a PPiiances to boot,” as can be had in no 
a C , lty p In . the world ‘ II } fact, if London be considered the capital of the cora- 
^nlwi^f lS - may b ? said to be that of the scientific, world, which, though a 
1S " 0t Wltho , ut , ltS influence ; at least for good, if not for evil. Paris 
i^ P iffpTnp! n J 7 he - C i ty of . tbe sciences — yet why it should be so, save from the 
incliffeience of our influential personages, it would be difficult to say. Education 
countr;T.Tnf°d e - °- f ! he , Principal sources of the difference between the two 
terhnfp S* 18 lS lncluded m tbe Preceding. The institution of the Poly* 
Frenrh npnni W 'n H ^ rand step towards developing the scientific talent of the 
science f Very . youth ,^ ho Iias shown any talent for any branch of 
that with* Jr/ ' l ' s education at the public expense. It is truly extraordinary, 
England ci IP xani P e ol such an institution and its benefits before the eyes of 
England neVer a, l te ™P ted an Y thing of the kind. Yet to a country like 
of fnralrninW * mea / S of ^covering and developing talent would be perhaps 
must evidpntl 6 1 ^ Ut . tbe Government > who, in measures of this kind, 
to the Uke bC lead glVe the tone to the Public mind, are indifferent 
indifferpnpp B S ‘ md / n ^ ap i able of a PP r . eciatin g the value of science; and their 
sciemifip vvant °f t discernment is of course influential in depressing the 
fear fmm aaracter .°f the country, which otherwise would have nothing to 
to our subject° mpanS ° n W ^ b tbat any nation * n Europe. But we must return 
for^th^lV t° ^ l f Academy of Sciences, by liar an Cuvier, Perpetual Secretary 
r pi a U) a Sciences, on the Zoological acquisitions made during the voyage of 
Ea Chevrette i» the Indian Seas. 
^ marine bas required a report from the Academy on the observa- 
fbirinrr ti C ° ectl0n _ s made by the officers of the king’s corvette La Chevrette, 
tai _ " g p ® ff° yag J ® he bas Recently made in the Indian seas ; and MM. Desfon- 
ratinn’^f *?• r0y Saint Hl,aire > Dumeril, and I, have been charged with the prepa- 
of tbi« i 18 r !? 01 ?> as far as Natural History is concerned. We acquit ourselves 
of PVn , ay W1 . j b e greater pleasure, inasmuch as it affords us an opportunity 
inpn fnr ti Dg - 111 * nename of naturalists in general, how much we owe these gentle- 
Ii wac 16 lm P° r ^ an f an( l disinterested services tliey have performed for science, 
in anv ° f the duties of these gentlemen to make collections, nor to attend 
UDnn’tlipm 5 ie Pursuits of natura! history ; but their enlightened zeal imposed 
destined Sr Ini task \ and the Y have performed it as effectively as if they had been 
set the pvamni f 1 e, ?P ,0 ym en t from the first. M. Reynard, surgeon of the ship, has 
have sppnnde i t, i a * nd tb ? ether officers, encouraged by their commander, M. Fabr^, 
lieutenant in Irf 1 -'" a ^ od -'' r ' ib worthy of imitation. M. De Blossville, the 
assisted in -id Jin ’ as . a s ? M * Gabert > clerk of the musters, have not only 
employed such le? ° 1° collectl ° n dlmn g tbe whole of the voyage, but have also 
interesting-^ J ? 1 , 10UrS aS tbeir P ublic dut X left ^em in making drawings of 
U i Umber Pr ° CUred ' V3S greater thaa Reynard 
services of his L ?? * a . c / „ as by “° means master of his time : having lost the 
public service 1 , is t ant » M. Brossard, (detained at Pondicherry on account of the 
the spirit of oi4"rtn,TwM? ] f thesh, P s C0,n P ar >>' depended solely on him ; but with 
geon Ims Civen w.tl, energy we may do every thing, and this young snr- 
been negketed • the hls Possessing both these qualities. Nothing has 
Preserid and t'icketod • 1-J. ° "’“““p** «>e frailest of the zoophytes, have been 
AWwobth ,w I,te m! ' 1 nnermth fr'sdsh, the birds, and the mammifera. 
«ave been drawn at tf.f ° r 5 olo ". r '."S ? f whid > was at all likely to be impaired, 
always been taken t , nt i and m the accompanying notes or journal, care lias 
lea taken to enter a memorandum of the locality of each specimen, a. 
