Natural-Historical Collections. 457 
that the bones in the Stonesfield-slate, which have been usually considered as de- 
rived from birds, ought to be attributed to this extraordinary family of flying rep- 
tiles. Dr. Buckland is now inclined to adopt this opinion, and is disposed to 
think still further, that the coleopterous insects, whose elytra occur in the 
Stonesfield-slate, may have formed the food of the insectivorous pterodactyles. 
He conceives also, that many of the bones from Tilgate Forest, hitherto referred to 
birds, may belong to this extinct family of anomalous reptiles; and, from their 
presence in these various localities, he infers that the genus pterodactyle existed 
throughout the entire period of the deposition of the great Jura-limestone forma- 
tion, from the lias to the chalk inclusive, expressing doubts as to the occurrence 
of any remains of birds, before the commencement of the tertiary strata.—£d. 
Phil. Jour. 
Course of Lectures on the History of the Natural Sciences ; by 
Baron Cuvier. 
Cuvier is again lecturing at the Collége de France. The subject he has this 
year chosen is the history of the natural sciences,—than which there is probably 
none more admirably calculated for the generalizations which seem to flow spon- 
taneously from his philosophical mind. It is with pleasure that we have it in 
our power to present to our readers a series of abstracts of these lectures, two of 
which will be condensed in each successive Number till they are completed. 
We have for some time contemplated the possibility of exhibiting, by analy- 
tical reports, the nature of the lectures of natural science which are delivered in 
our own and in foreign schools ; and we were delighted when we found ourselves 
able to use the name of Cuvier as a sanction to our design. 
When the present series is concluded, we shall probably continue this section 
of our labours by reports of the lectures on natural history in the University of 
Edinburgh.—Ep. 
Lectures I. and I].—After having explained the motives which induced 
him this year to elucidate the history of natural science, M. Cuvier spoke of the 
utility of this branch of study. And tracing rapidly the progress of science from 
the earliest periods to our own days, he was led to distinguish three principal 
epochs: the religious, the philosophical, and the epoch of the division of labour, 
which may be termed the scientific epoch, properly so called. 
The Ist epoch comprises the whole period during which science was shut up 
within the temples, and cultivated solely by priests, who made it a mystery to 
the vulgar, or presented it to them in an emblematic form. 
The 2d epoch dates from the time when the sciences, whose germ had been 
found in Egypt, began, after a long interval, to be developed in Greece. 
From the moment of their regeneration they took a new direction, were 
entirely separated from religion, and were no longer cultivated by the priests, but 
by sages, who communicated the fruit of their researches without reserve or dis- 
guise. Then each of them embraced the whole circle of human knowledge, and 
the philosopher was at the same time a metaphysician, a moralist, a geometri- 
cian, a naturalist, and a physician. 
The 3d epoch was marked by the separation which took place between the 
different branches of science. Each division was cultivated by men who devoted 
themselves exclusively to it, with the whole energies of their minds; and, by 
this judicious distribution of labour, an unprecedented success was obtained. 
It was not the fault of Aristotle that this epoch was not hastened; indeed, 
this great man had assigned to each part of science its natural limits. But, un- 
fortunately, he left no successors worthy of him, and the peripatetic sect, which he 
founded, fell in several centuries into disrepute. It was then only, after a long 
lapse of time in the middle ages, and towards the ue of the sixteenth 
VOL, I. M 
