The Surface of the Globe [Christmas Summary Classics]

Christmas Summary Classics
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GEORGES CUVIER
The Surface of the Globe
Georges Cuvier was born Aug. 24, 1769, at Montbéliard, France. He had a brilliant academic career at Stuttgart Academy, and in 1795, at the age of twenty-six, he was appointed assistant professor of comparative anatomy at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, and was elected a member of the National Institute. From this date onwards to his death in 1832, his scientific industry was remarkable. Both as zoologist and palæontologist he must be regarded as one of the greatest pioneers of science. He filled many important scientific posts, including the chair of Natural History in the Collège de France, and a professorship at the Jardin des Plantes. In 1808 he was made member of the Council of the Imperial University; and in 1814, President of the Council of Public Instruction. In 1826 he was made grand officer of the Legion of Honour, and five years later was made a peer of France. The "Discours sur les Révolutions de la Surface du Globe," published in 1825, is essentially a preliminary discourse to the author's celebrated work, "Recherches sur les Ossemens fossiles de Quadrupèdes." It is an endeavour to trace the relationship between the changes which have taken place on the surface of the globe and the changes which have taken place in its animal inhabitants, with especial reference to the evidence afforded by fossil remains of quadrupeds. "It is apparent," Cuvier writes, "that the bones of quadrupeds conduct us, by various reasonings, to more precise results than any other relics of organised bodies." The two books together may be considered the first really scientific palæontology.