His Physiognomy.—It is very interesting to note in his portraits the change in his physiognomy accompanying his transformation from a young man of provincial appearance into an elegant personage. Fig. 41 shows his portrait in the early days when he was less mindful of his personal appearance. It is the face of an eager, strong, young man, still retaining traces of his provincial life. His long, light-colored hair is unkempt, but does not hide the magnificent proportions of his head. Fig. 42 shows the growing refinement of features which came with his advancement, and the aristocratic look of supremacy which set upon his countenance after his wide recognition passing by a gradation of steps from the position of head of the educational system, to that of baron and peer of France.
Fig. 42.—Cuvier at the Zenith of His Power.
Cuvier was a man of commanding power and colossal attainments; he was a favorite of Napoleon Bonaparte, who elevated him to office and made him director of the higher educational institutions of the Empire. But to whatever place of prominence he attained in the government, he never lost his love for natural science. With him this was an absorbing passion, and it may be said that he ranks higher as a zoölogist than as a legislator.
Comprehensiveness of Mind.—Soon after his arrival in Paris he began to lecture upon comparative anatomy and to continue work in a most comprehensive way upon the subjects which he had cultivated at Caen. He saw everything on a large scale. This led to his making extensive studies of whatever problems engaged his mind, and his studies were combined in such a manner as to give a broad view of the subject.
Indeed, comprehensiveness of mind seems to have been the characteristic which most impressed those who were acquainted with him. Flourens says of him: "Ce qui caractérise partout M. Cuvier, c'est l'esprit vaste." His broad and comprehensive mind enabled him to map out on great lines the subject of comparative anatomy. His breadth was at times his undoing, for it must be confessed that when the details of the subject are considered, he was often inaccurate. This was possibly owing to the conditions under which he worked; having his mind diverted into many other channels, never neglecting his state duties, it is reasonable to suppose that he lacked the necessary time to prove his observations in anatomy, and we may in this way account for some of his inaccuracies.
Besides being at fault in some of his comparative anatomy, he adhered to a number of ideas that served to retard the progress of science. He was opposed to the ideas of his contemporary Lamarck, on the evolution of animals. He is remembered as the author of the dogma of catastrophism in geology. He adhered to the old notion of the pre-formation of the embryo, and also to the theory of the spontaneous origin of life.
Founds Comparative Anatomy.—Regardless of this qualification, he was a great and distinguished student, and founded comparative anatomy. From 1801 to 1805 appeared his Leçons d' Anatomie Comparée, a systematic treatise on the comparative anatomy of animals, embracing both the invertebrates and the vertebrates. In 1812 was published his great work on the fossil bones about Paris, an achievement which founded the science of vertebrate palæontology. His extensive examination of the structure of fishes also added to his already great reputation. His book on the animal kingdom (Le Règne Animal distribué d'après son Organisation, 1816), in which he expounded his type-theory, has been considered in a previous chapter.
He was also deeply interested in the historical development of science, and his volumes on the rise of the natural sciences give us almost the best historical estimate of the progress of science that we have at the present day.