His Domestic Life.—Mrs. Lee, in a chatty account of Cuvier, shows one of his methods of work. He had the faculty of making others assist him in various ways. Not only members of his family, but also guests in his household were pressed into service. They were invited to examine different editions of works and to indicate the differences in the plates and in the text. This practice resulted in saving much time for Cuvier, since in the preparation of his historical lectures he undertook to examine all the original sources of the history with which he was engaged. In his lectures he summarized facts relating to different editions of books, etc.
Mrs. Lee also gives a picture of his family life, which was, to all accounts, very beautiful. He was devoted to his wife and children, and in the midst of exacting cares he found time to bind his family in love and devotion. Cuvier was called upon to suffer poignant grief in the loss of his children, and his direct family was not continued. He was especially broken by the death of his daughter who had grown to young womanhood and was about to be married.
From the standpoint of a sincere admirer, Mrs. Lee writes of his generosity and nobility of temperament, declaring that his career demonstrated that his mind was great and free from both envy and smallness.
Some Shortcomings.—Nevertheless, there are certain things in the life of Cuvier that we wish might not have been. His break with his old friends Lamarck and Saint-Hilaire seems to show a domination of qualities that were not generous and kindly; those observations of Lamarck showing a much profounder insight than any of which he himself was the author were laughed to scorn. His famous controversy with Saint-Hilaire marks a historical moment that will be dealt with in the chapter on Evolution.
George Bancroft, the American historian, met him during a visit to Paris in 1827. He speaks of his magnificent eyes and his fine appearance, but on the whole Cuvier seems to have impressed Bancroft as a disagreeable man.
Some of his shortcomings that served to retard the progress of science have been mentioned. Still, with all his faults, he dominated zoölogical science at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and so powerful was his influence and so undisputed was his authority among the French people that the rising young men in natural science sided with Cuvier even when he was wrong. It is a noteworthy fact that France, under the influence of the traditions of Cuvier, was the last country slowly and reluctantly to harbor as true the ideas regarding the evolution of animal life.
Cuvier's Successors
While Cuvier's theoretical conclusions exercised a retarding influence upon the progress of biology, his practical studies more than compensated for this. It has been pointed out how his type-theory led to the reform of the Linnæan system, but, besides this, the stimulus which his investigations gave to studies in comparative anatomy was even of more beneficent influence. As time passed the importance of comparative anatomy as one division of biological science impressed itself more and more upon naturalists. A large number of investigators in France, England, and Germany entered the field and took up the work where Cuvier had left it. The more notable of these successors of Cuvier should come under consideration.
