The Office of Sunday-schools; with a Lecture on Mental Improvemeut. By J. D. FERNLEY. 12mo, pp. 78. Mason.

A MOST valuable publication: it deserves to be circulated thousands upon thousands.

Letters by H. J. Prince to his Christian Brethren at St. David's College, Lampeter. Third Edition. Nisbet.

FRANK, fervid, and searching.

The Character and Influence of Satan. By J. H. WILSON. Royal 18mo, pp. 84. Aylott and Jones.

A POPULAR, concise, and judicious treatise on an awful subject, by a religious, literary layman.

The Truth and Truths of Christianity. By J. C. BROWN, Cape Town. 12mo.

SIX earnest, able, and luminous lectures on fundamental doctrines. It is pleasing to find this excellent young pastor thus making full proof of his ministry. Mr. Brown is well adapted to the arduous enterprise of Colonial service; we have learned with satisfaction, from private sources, that he proceeds with energy and

success.

The Heroine of a Week. Conversations for the Teacher and the Taught. 18mo, pp. 123. Seeley. INGENIOUS and instructive.

A Brief Sketch of the Present State and Future Expectations of the Jews. By R. H. HERSCHELL. 18mo, pp. 152. Unwin.

THIS work has already had a very extensive circulation; but such is its merit, as to render the circulation of additional tens of thousands desirable. It should be remembered, that this is the work, not of a Gentile, but of a Jew-a Christian Jew. It is emphatically a book for Sunday-schools.

The Remembrancer for Believers in Jesus, and Scriptural Guide to the Unconverted. By PHILIP THOMPSON. 7th Thousand. 18mo, pp. 319. Harvey and Darton.

NINETEEN chapters of very interesting matter, comprehending a vast variety of topics.

The Three Kingdoms: a Book for the Young. Royal 18mo, pp. 208. Snow.

THIS work starts by showing what a kingdom is; then sets forth God's Kingdom-Satan's Kingdom-History of Part of God's Kingdom -Christ's Kingdom-Allegory of the Three Kingdoms-and the Conclusion. An ingenious, clear, and well-connected piece of instruction. The True Story of Facts," beginning at page 139, presents an example of tuition which deserves the attention of teachers. Το the kingly office of Christ, however, the author has by no means done justice. He says: "To have attempted to determine which function should properly belong to it, would have involved a discussion of certain speculative and controversial questions quite out of place in such a work as the present." What! "out of place" in a work avowedly on the very subject ? If not in place here, where will it be in place? Let our author beware of carnal policy in this matter, and not sacrifice the honours of Christ

to the interests of the author, or the bookseller or both. These things, we assure him, must be "discussed;" and happy the man who, with intelligence, zeal, and discretion, and a single eye, reckless of all personal consequences, loses no opportunity of sharing in it.

Shadows of Thought; or, Poems, Epistolary, Moral, Descriptive. By J. A. SLATER. Royal 18mo, pp. 136. Groombridge.

MR. SLATER has undoubtedly poetry within him, and if he will labour on, he may give to mankind, not simply "Shadows of Thought," but thought itself. The volume, as a whole, is marked by moral purity, and interspersed with pieces of superior writing; but as Mr. Slater is clearly capable of something greatly better, we could have wished that he had retained these results of idle hours till, fully fledged, he had been able to soar into a higher region.

The Millennium of the Bible Vindicated, &c.; with a Chronological Chart of the World. By JAMES SCOTT. Pp. 104. Nisbet.

A TEMPERATE defence of a system, which, in common with the bulk of the Christian world, we deem indefensible.

Exercises in Logic, designed for Students in Colleges. By Dr. GREY. 12mo, pp. 148. Taylor and Walton.

INGENIOUS and elaborate; well calculated to fix the mind and sharpen the faculties; a good text-book for the higher order of schools; and a meet supplement to Isaac Taylor's "Elements of Thought."

The Rise and Fall of the Papacy. By ROBERT FLEMING. With a Memoir, by THOMAS THOMPSON. Royal 18mo, pp. 125. Groombridge.

ROBERT FLEMING was one of the greatest men of a bygone age; one of those who preferred Dissent and a good conscience with poverty to the sacrifice of principle, with wealth and distinction. He finished his course in 1716, after having published this celebrated dissertation. After slumbering a century all but unnoticed, to the astonishment of mankind it received its fulfilment to the letter, in the stupendous events that took place in the heart of Europe towards the close of the last century.

A Course of Lectures to Young Men, on Religion, Science, and Literature, delivered in Dundee by Ministers of various Denominations. 18mo, pp. 253. Hamilton.

THIS volume is worth at least its weight in silver. It is one of the best pocket volumes for young men that we are at present able to name. While all are excellent, we would particularly specify that on the Importance of the Period of Youth, by Dr. Russell; on the Cultivation of the Mind, by Dr. Hetherington; that on the Claims of Science on Young Men, by Mr. Wilson; and last, but most, that on Reading, and Directions to render it profitable, by Mr. Shoebotham, now the worthy pastor of the Independent church at Kidderminster. If our worthy friend would gather together all the young men of Kidderminster, and deliver this lecture to them, he will prove their benefactor to an extent not easily to be exceeded.

GEORGE CUVIER.

Ir any man deserves to figure among our most illustrious contemporaries, it is surely George Cuvier. He has been styled rightly the Aristotle of modern times. No one has possessed, in our day, a higher intellect than his, more extensive knowledge, nor more varied talents. Endowed with a prodigious memory and wonderful facility of labour, he has stamped upon almost all the sciences the marks of his powerful genius, and the name of Cuvier will be ever placed by the side of those of Bacon, Kepler, and Newton-men who have opened new paths in the regions of science.

Before relating the life of Cuvier, it is gratifying to observe that his scientific studies never led him to attack the revelations of the Bible. Very different in this respect from many other mathematicians and 'naturalists, he constantly respects in his writings the authority of the Scripture history. I do not say that he was a true Christian in the full meaning of the word: that is for God only to decide. But what is undeniable is, that Cuvier's conclusions in regard to the time of man's origin in this world, agree with the account by Moses, and refute the objections of less learned men than himself. In his history of natural sciences, he shows that authentic records of history do not date beyond the period fixed by the chronology of our sacred books, and his opinion is that all mankind belong to one race, which was originally placed on the elevated plains of Central Asia.

He refers also to final causes in all his researches; that is to say, to the action of a perfectly intelligent and wise Creator; so that his writings form an excellent system of natural theology.

To come to our biography.

George Leopold Cuvier was born at Montbeliard, a small town belonging then to the duchy of Wurtemberg, the 23rd August, 1769, the same year with Napoleon. His family were originally from a village of Mount Jura; they had left France at the time of the Reformation to establish themselves in Montbeliard. The grandfather of Mr. Cuvier had but little property; he was townclerk. His father was a soldier, and did not marry till at the age of fifty years.

The mother of George Cuvier had a superior mind. She was his first teacher,

and discharged the duty with admirable zeal. Though she did not know Latin, she made her son repeat to her all his lessons in this language; at the same time, she made him read aloud many books of history and literature. Thus she unfolded in the mind of her young pupil that thirst for reading and that curiosity which, as Mr. Cuvier himself relates, were the principal source of his discoveries. Here is a new proof of the influence which mothers can exercise over the intellectual as well as over the moral culture of their children. How often have I had occasion to remark that men of genius are almost all sons of their mothers!

George Cuvier showed from his earliest years rare strength of conception and inclination for study. He had no fondness for the sports of childhood and youth. His only recreation was in sketching under the eyes of his mother. At the age of fourteen years, he had finished his classical studies at the gymnasium of Montbeliard. He knew Greek, Latin, French, German, Italian; he had studied ancient and modern history, and retained in his memory without effort the driest genealogies.

Young Cuvier's superiority over his fellow-students gave him an influence which he used to organize them into a little academy, under his own direction. The school-room was their place of meeting; an old straw-chair was the president's seat; and the meetings were spent in literary, historical, or scientific discussions, which the young president summed up in a serious tone-a prelude to the part he was afterwards to act on a larger theatre.

His parents were for some time undecided what profession he should follow. The father would have wished him to enter the military service; but the delicate health and quiet tastes of the young man frustrated this plan. The mother, who was a pious Lutheran, earnestly wished that her son should embrace the ecclesiastical profession, and indeed George Cuvier seemed disposed to do so. But various obstacles prevented, and his attention was directed to another quarter, Duke Charles of Wurtemberg, who had heard of his high capacities for study, offered him a place where he would be instructed gratuitously in the academy

called Caroline; a magnificent institution founded at Stuttgard, where twentyfour professors gave lectures to four hundred pupils. This academy was divided into five departments: medicine, law, conduct of public affairs, the military art, and commerce. Each pupil, after having undergone his examination in philosophy, entered according to his taste upon one of these five faculties. Cuvier entered that of public affairs, and there acquired knowledge which was very useful to him afterwards in his political

career.

But he felt already a decided inclination for researches in natural history. A copy of Buffon's works, which he had found in his father's library, occupied all his leisure hours; he copied the plates, and corrected them from later descriptions. At Stuttgard, his professor of natural history gave him a copy of Linnæus's work on botany, and this imparted to the young student a new impulse. When he returned home, he brought with him numerous collections of plants and insects.

The time was come for Cuvier to choose a profession. He accepted the place of teacher in a nobleman's family-Count de Heriey, living in Normandy, near the sea-shore. In this quiet retreat he passed seven years of his life, from the year 1788 to 1795.

He enjoyed there a healthy climate, invigorating exercise, interesting society, and an asylum from the revolutionary tempest which was sweeping over France. Mr. Cuvier, too young still to figure in political affairs, divided his time between the cares which he owed to his pupils and the prosecution of his favourite studies. He was surrounded by the diversified productions of land and sea, and he accumulated the elements of his future discoveries. Having but few books at command-being obliged to examine everything with his own eyes, happy to interrogate Nature herself on the secrets contained in her bosom-he acquired an originality and a power of observation which he would not have obtained in schools.

These treasures might have remained long buried in Mr. Cuvier's cabinet, if a particular circumstance had not made him acquainted with the scientific institutions of Paris. There was in the neighbourhood where he resided a learned old gentleman, Mr. Teissier, member of the Academy of Sciences, who, learning Cuvier's taste for natural history, formed

acquaintance with him. When he had examined the collections of the young man, his anatomical preparations, his sketches, his volumes full of new observations and elevated views, he conceived the highest idea of his genius, and he wrote immediately to his friends in Paris to make known to them this new naturalist. Mr. Teissier did not hesitate to declare, from that moment, that his young friend would become one of the most brilliant ornaments of the age.

The

This was in 1795. The political horizon began to brighten. Robespierre and his accomplices had ended on the scaffold their criminal and bloody career. new government felt the necessity of reorganizing the colleges and academies, and of reviving scientific studies, which had been neglected during the reign of terror. Mr. Cuvier had therefore no difficulty to find a place as public instructor. He was appointed professor in natural history, and then of comparative anatomy. Though he was yet but twentysix years old, he acquired the confidence and affection of his pupils, and soon after he was admitted a member of the National Institute.

My duties as biographer would require now that I should enumerate the great discoveries of Cuvier. But this task would be beyond my strength. I am not acquainted sufficiently with these sciences to appreciate the labours of their most learned interpreter; and I suppose, besides, that such technical discussions would have little interest for the majority of your readers. We will confine ourselves, then, to sketch briefly what Mr. Cuvier has done of most importance in zoology, comparative anatomy, and the science of fossil animals.

1st. In zoology he has made a new classification. Buffon and Linnæus, who treated this subject before him, classed animals according to their external characteristics rather than after a profound study of their internal organization. They divided the animal kingdom into quadru peds, birds, reptiles, insects; and in the last class they had comprised under the vague denomination of white-blooded animals a great many species little understood. Cuvier proved that this classification was imperfect and faulty. He examined more attentively the internal organs of animals; he showed how these organs are subordinated to one another; he explained their relations, resemblances, and differences; and on this basis he proposed a new classification of the

animal kingdom, which is now generally adopted.

2nd. These discoveries led him to study more closely the anatomy of various kinds of animals; and thence is come the science of comparative anatomy, of which Cuvier is the true inventor. Before him it was only a collection of individual facts; he knew how to establish the general laws of organized beings. Every order is examined in the changes which it undergoes as we pass from one species to another, and Mr. Cuvier recognizes everywhere the wisdom and goodness of God. He felt for this science strong enthusiasm, and meditated, even until the close of his life, a great work of comparative anatomy, in which he would embody all the researches of his vast genius. Time failed him to put the last hand to this book; but we possess the principal elements of it in a number of memoirs which he printed.

Mr.

3rd. The most important application of his labours in comparative anatomy regards fossil animals. ́ Mr. Cuvier has constructed a new science with the remains of bones which are discovered in the bowels of the earth. You know that there are upon our globe different strata of earth, which contain the remains of several kinds of animals. There are heaps of shells, then bones of elephants, of mammoths, of enormous reptiles, and of beings now completely lost. Cuvier, by the aid of his anatomical studies and the necessary relations which exist among the organs, succeeded to discover the form of a whole animal, with a single bone, or even fragment of a bone. He detected and classified the remains of more than a hundred and fifty animals of gigantic dimensions. It would seem from his investigations that our globe has undergone several revolutions, and that man is the latest of the creatures which have peopled the earth. This learned naturalist has been able to write a new history of our planet, by seeking in the bowels of the earth all the documents and proofs which he needed.

I hasten from this scientific region to come to Cuvier's political career. Though he was essentially a student, he could not avoid taking part in public affairs. Napoleon appointed him, from the year 1802, general-inspector of the national colleges, and showed him on all occasions great confidence. These two superior men were fitted to understand each other, and their genius occupied such different spheres that there never could be jealousy

between them. Cuvier was charged, in 1809, to organize academies in the new provinces conquered by the sword of Napoleon. He instituted, among others, a university in Rome, and it was a curious sight to see a Protestant preside over public instruction in the city of the Pope.

In 1813, he became member of the council of State; and in this eminent station he rendered such services that he kept it till his death. Placed at the head of the committee of Internal Affairs, he displayed prodigious activity. The number of these Affairs sometimes amounts to ten thousand in a single year. Yet Cuvier examined all with his own eyes, read every document to be discussed, directed the deliberations with remarkable talent; and when his turn to speak came, he gave his opinion with so much good sense and clearness that he always obtained the unanimous assent of his colleagues.

ture.

Mr. Cuvier was often charged, as royal commissioner, to defend the plans of the government before the national legislaSome have censured him for advocating too much the policy of the old Bourbons from 1815 to 1830, and indeed his name was for some time unpopular among the liberal party. Cuvier did not like revolutions; he professed great respect for the established authorities, and said that, in our day especially, it is the duty of good citizens to strengthen the government against the encroachments of democracy. It would be unjust not to add that his adherence to the government of the Bourbons did not descend to servility. When the Jesuits threatened in 1828 to seize upon the national academies and colleges, he opposed a noble resistance, and declared that he would resign his office the very day that this intolerant body should put their hand on public instruction.

As a speaker, whether in the professor's chair or in the legislature, Cuvier did not hold the first rank. He lacked vehemence and pathos. He never reached those great emotions, those sublime expressions, by which Mirabeau or Fox electrified a vast assembly. Cuvier was simple in his discourses. No rhetorical figures, no terms of art. He disdained to address himself to the imagination or to the sensibility of his hearers. Sometimes he was even negligent in his elocution. But he had order, logical connection of ideas, clearness-all that distinguishes a good dialectician. He went straight to the point, and rarely

left a subject without presenting it under a new aspect.

As a member of the Protestant church, Cuvier was grand master of the faculties of theology, and in difficult moments he served with zeal the cause of his brethren. He never espoused petty sectarian views; he rendered justice to all, and on several occasions he protected those who are called Methodists against the slanders and attacks of their adversaries.

But how did George Cuvier find time for so many duties and labours? This question naturally occurs to the mind, and the answer to it is instructive. The capital point in the life of Cuvier was the regularity of his occupations. He had so perfectly arranged his hours that not a moment was lost: very different from the celebrated Humboldt, who, for thirty years, slept but four hours at night, he had need of much repose to strengthen himself, and passed usually nine hours in bed.

The following is the plan and division of his days. He rose at nine o'clock in the morning, and breakfasted at ten. The first hour was devoted to reading his correspondence, to giving orders, and to arranging in his office, or in his different rooms, the materials of his labours; for he had a particular room for each kind of occupation, so as to avoid confusion in the arrangement of his books and papers. While at breakfast he had a book in his hand, or read the newspapers. Next, he gave audience to such as had anything important to communicate. He was affable and kind to the studious and industrious, especially to young men; but he tried to cut short the visits of idlers and intriguers.

About noon he was accustomed to ride in his carriage, when he read and even wrote, as he went either to the Council of State or the hall of the Minister of the Interior, or to any of the academies of which he was a member. All his duties he performed with punctuality, never putting off till to-morrow what he could do to-day. After discharging these public duties, he devoted his evenings to study. His habit was to write standing before a desk till eleven o'clock at night. Then he passed an hour in Mrs. Cuvier's apartment, and listened still to the reading of some literary work. At midnight he went to bed.

Cuvier had four children, but lost them all. Among them was a charming girl, named Clementine, who was taken from him at the age of twenty-two years: she possessed an amiable disposition, great intelligence, and ardent piety. This was a terrible blow for her father's heart: the highest reputation does not compensate for such losses.

Cuvier's face was marked by a large and crooked nose, blue eyes, and thick flaxen hair. He had a noble authoritative air; but his address was affable and easy. His head was enormously large. When his brain was weighed after his death, the weight was found to be a third greater than that of ordinary brains.

George Cuvier breathed his last in the night of May 13, 1832. He preserved to the last all his presence of mind, and remarked himself when his last agony began. One of our men of letters has said that his was a learned manner of dying. But there is another manner of dying which is better that of the Christian, who turns his eyes to his Saviour. X.

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REPORTS OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF EDUCATION IN WALES.

To the Editor of the Christian Witness.

SIR, I rejoice that the pages of the BRITISH BANNER have been thrown open for the purpose of exposing those gigantic libels on Welsh religion, Welsh morality, and, above all, Welsh Dissent, which have been recently published under the title of "Reports of the Commissioners

of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales." I would also contribute my share in defence of my calumniated countrymen. And permit me to say, that this is a matter which concerns the English Dissenting public not merely on the ground of sympathy with their vilified brethren in the Principality, but as containing very significant inquiries, to which they will do well to give heed, before they commit themselves to the power of a system of which such things as these