When Two Elements Combine And

The Most Important Of My Discoveries Have Been Suggested To Me By Failures.

Every Discovery Opens A New Field For Investigation Of Facts, Shows Us The Imperfection Of Our Theories. It Has Justly Been Said, That The Greater The Circle Of Light, The Greater The Boundary Of Darkness By Which It Is Surrounded.

To Me There Never Has Been A Higher Source Of Honour Or Distinction Than That Connected With Advances In Science. I Have Not Possessed Enough Of The Eagle In My Character To Make A Direct Flight To The Loftiest Altitudes In The Social World; And I Certainly Never Endeavored To Reach Those Heights By Using The Creeping Powers Of The Reptile, Who In Ascending, Generally Chooses The Dirtiest Path, Because It Is The Easiest.

Natural Science Is Founded On Minute Critical Views Of The General Order Of Events Taking Place Upon Our Globe, Corrected, Enlarged, Or Exalted By Experiments, In Which The Agents Concerned Are Placed Under New Circumstances, And Their Diversified Properties Separately Examined. The Body Of Natural Science, Then, Consists Of Facts; Is Analogy,-the Relation Of Resemblance Of Facts By Which Its Different Parts Are Connected, Arranged, And Employed, Either For Popular Use, Or For New Speculative Improvements.

Cuvier Had Even In His Address & Manner The Character Of A Superior Man, Much General Power & Eloquence In Conversation & Great Variety Of Information On Scientific As Well As Popular Subjects. I Should Say Of Him That He Is The Most Distinguished Man Of Talents I Have Ever Known On The Continent: But I Doubt If He Be Entitled To The Appellation Of A Man Of Genius.