Dumeril, Risso, Goldfuss, and other naturalists, to establish inferior divisions founded on the general form of the body, on the position or absence of fins, or on the absence or nature of the operculum, has, throughout the volumes already published, entirely overlooked the usual method of zoologists, of distributing all the genera into appropriate and well-defined orders, and has only attempted to subdivide the great primary divisions of the class into numerous natural families.

The acanthopterygious fishes, which compose nearly three fourths of the known species, are divided into numerous subordinate groups, formerly regarded as genera, so intimately related to each other, and connected by transitions so imperceptible, that the whole may be regarded as an immense natural family, which cannot at present be disunited without losing sight of their most important relations. These subordinate groups are the natural families which Cuvier has preserved, assigning to each more definite characters, and preserving for it the name by which its principal genus is designated. The second and third volumes are occupied with the history of the great family of perches, which are taken first of all the acanthopterygious families, from the facility of obtaining these fishes, and their immense abundance in all parts of Europe. The common perch (perca fluviatilis, Lin.), one of the most beautiful and useful of all our fresh-water fishes, is taken as the type of this great family, and those species which have the closest resemblance to it are described in succession, and at considerable length. The species of fifty other genera of this family are described in these volumes in the same detailed and scientific manner, and one or more species of each of the genera are illustrated by accurate and elegantly finished octavo engravings, in praise of which it is sufficient to state that they are from the pencil of Werner, well known to Europe for his accurate delineations in every branch of zoology. The fourth volume, the last which has appeared, comprehends the description of twenty-two genera, embracing all the species belonging to the second great family of acanthopterygious fishes. This family comprehends the fishes most nearly allied to that of the perches, and is distinguished by having the side of the head armed, by the suborbitar plates covering a greater or less portion of the cheek, and articulating with the preoperculum. It is divided into two distinct groups easily recognised; the first having no free spinous rays in front of the dorsal fin, and the second having only free spines in place of a first dorsal fin. The first, and most numerous of these groups is subdivided into those which have two dorsal fins, of which there are ten genera, commencing with the Trigla

of

of Linnæus and Lacepede, and terminating with the Platycephalus of Bloch, and those which have only a single dorsal fin, of which there are nine genera. The second group of this family, or those with free spines instead of the first dorsal fin, comprehends the monocentris of Bloch, the gasterosteus of Linnæus, and Cuvier's remarkable new genus, the little tuberculated oreosoma of the Atlantic, only an inch and a half in length, which forms the lowest limit of this family, from its suborbitar plates forming only a narrow arch on the side of the cheek, and uniting with the preoperculum only at the upper part. From the minute and satisfactory details which are given of all the external characters, the history, the distribution, and the synonymes of the species, and of the internal structure of those which have been dissected, from the accuracy, the number, and the elegance of the engravings, and from the vast and daily increasing resources of these naturalists, we anticipate, in the completion of this great work, a new and brilliant æra in the history of Ichthyology.

Arrived at the term of threescore years, crowned with every distinction which genius and learning could obtain, oppressed with the duties of his elevated and important rank in the state, and exhausted with half a century of continued and varied research, it might be expected that so vast an undertaking as the examination and description of six thousand species of almost unknown animals, would be more than sufficient to engage every unoccupied minute of his life: yet, besides the concluding part of the new edition of the Règne Animal, embracing more than half of the classes of the animal kingdom, which is now preparing for publication, M. Cuvier is at this instant actively engaged in arranging and preparing his vast materials for a new edition of his early and celebrated work on Comparative Anatomy. The immense improvements introduced into every part of the science within these thirty years, while they imperiously call for a new edition of the only complete treatise on the subject, will render it a herculean labour to bring that extensive work up to the present state of the science. And he even now contemplates the commencement of a vast undertaking greater than all he has yet achieved, an undertaking alluded to in all his publications, the chief study of his life, and the constant idol of his thoughts for thirty years, a complete system of Comparative Anatomy, embracing a detailed account of all that is known of the organization of the animal kingdom, and illustrated in every part with accurate zootomical engravings taken from nature. For this undertaking M. Cuvier has prepared an immense series of drawings and

engravings,

engravings, and for this he has formed the Museum of Comparative Anatomy, which now far surpasses every thing of the kind in existence.

But these achievements, vast as they may appear to us, must be looked upon as only the pastime of his leisure hours, when we reflect on his numerous and important public duties connected with the administration of the state. Indeed his zoological career is one to which he was driven by the troubles of 1788, which separated his country from Germany, bereaved him of his patrons, blasted his political prospects for which he had prepared himself at the University of Stutgard, and caused him to seek employment in a foreign country: so that in resuming his political career, and partaking in the administration of France, instead of that of Wirtemburg, he has only followed his original destination, and has now become the Counsellor of State of a great monarch in place of being that of a petty prince. Notwithstanding the succession of rulers, the changes of ministry, and the frequent perturbations of France, Cuvier's political progress has been as sure and regular as his march in science. The catastrophe at Paris in 1814, happened at the moment when Cuvier was about to be named Counsellor of State by the emperor; but that event only caused a delay of a few months, for Louis XVIII. conferred that dignity upon him in the month of September of the same year. M. Royer Collard, and M. Becquey, with whom Cuvier had been long intimate, assisted in this preferment by making him known to the Abbé de Montesquiou. It was also by the influence of Collard and Montesquiou that he was retained in 1815 as Member of the Commission of Public Instruction, which was substituted for the Council of the University, and was charged with the functions of chancellor of that body, an honourable distinction which he still retains. Since that period he has had a great share in the administration, not in mere political schemes, with which Cuvier has always declined interfering, but in many of the projects of law, and in the whole administration of the interior in so far as it depends on the Committee of the Interior, of the Council of State, and he has almost always been Commissary of the king before the Chambers for the defence of projects of law. M. Cuvier occupies the second place in the University of France, and not being a Catholic he could not reasonably aspire to the first. Besides his functions of Chancellor of the University, he is charged with the direction of the Faculties. Only during the famous hundred days was Cuvier separated from the Council of State, but even then he retained, unmolested, his important situations connected with public instruction. When

When on a scientific visit to England in 1818, he received the gratifying intelligence of his election as one of the Forty of the French Academy, a title reserved to reward only extraordinary merit, and the highest distinction which science can obtain in France or in Europe. At the close of the same year the Ministry of the Interior was proposed to M. Cuvier, but the conditions under which he would have accepted it could not be realized. In the beginning of 1819, however, he was named President of the Committee of the Interior, of the Council of State; and notwithstanding the changes of ministry, M. Cuvier has still preserved that place, because, however important in itself, it is unconnected with political intrigues, and requires only method, a constant activity, a rigid discharge of duty, and a thorough acquaintance with the laws and the principles of administration. During the same year, Louis XVIII. spontaneously granted him the title of Baron, for an act of loyalty with which he was personally touched. Cuvier has been several times called to the cabinet Councils, and was officially present as one of the Presidents of the Council of State at the coronation of Charles X. In 1824, he received from the King of France the decoration of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, and in 1826, the King of Wirtemberg, his former sovereign and his early protector, testified his kind regard for M. Cuvier, and his high estimation of his merits, by conferring upon him, of his own accord, the title of Commander of his Order of the Crown. When a Catholic Bishop was appointed chief of the University in 1822, Cuvier received, in an independent form, the functions of Grand Master, with regard to the faculties of Protestant Theology, and he still retains them, although, since 1827, the Grand Masters have been laymen. And what gives M. Cuvier a preponderant influence in the nomination of the Protestant clergy, and in all that relates to the administration of the Protestant churches and synagogues in France, is his being entrusted, since 1827, with the direction, in the ministry of the interior, of all the ecclesiastical affairs not belonging to the Catholic church.

Such has been the political and scientific career of this distinguished foreigner; and such are the writings he has bequeathed to posterity,-a career of usefulness worthy of imitation, as his writings are deserving of the attentive study of all who follow in the same track of science. Notwithstanding the scientific achievements of this great man, which we have attempted briefly to enumerate, no man by his comportment appears to have achieved less. With wealth, influence, learning and fame, M. Cuvier's easy and unaffected manners command

mand the love and esteem of all who have the honour to enjoy his acquaintance. With a robust natural constitution, and method in all his undertakings, he achieves without exertion what would surpass the powers of ordinary men. Guided in his arduous career by no other motive than the love of knowledge and the desire to benefit his race, his labours for science merit the gratitude, and will command the admiration of all posterity.

Art. IV. Principi di Scienza Nuova.—Antica Sapienza degl' Italiani. Di Giambattista Vico. Milano.

IT would be difficult to point out, in the numerous list of the distinguished writers of Italy, any one individual whose works, at least until within these few years, were so little known out of his own country as those of Vico. The reason of this is to be found, in some degree, in the obscurity, not to say the confusedness, of his style, and in the irregular and unconnected manner in which he occasionally arranges his ideas. His merit in other respects is undeniable; for though his theories are sometimes fanciful, whether in mythology or philology, yet they indicate great erudition and striking originality of mind. His most important works, though he has written several others of considerable interest, are those, the titles of which are prefixed to this article. The first has lately been translated and arranged by M. Michelet, who has had the merit of making Vico generally known in France, not only by this publication, but also by an interesting notice of him, inserted in the Biographie Universelle.'

6

Vico was born in Naples, in 1670. He was the son of a bookseller. His studies, in the first instance, were directed towards philosophy. This fatigued him, and he afterwards turned his attention to jurisprudence, in which he made great progress. Compelled, however, by pecuniary considerations, as well as by health, to seek some less precarious employment, he engaged himself as tutor in the family of the Bishop of Ischia, where he remained nine years. Under the roof of this prelate, he devoted himself intensely to study. Plato, Tacitus, Bacon, and Grotius were his favourite authors. He subsequently returned to Naples, and married. He there obtained the Rhetorical Professorship, which he held in the University for forty years. He was anxious for a legal one, but did not succeed in the attempt. This disappointment, great as it was, did not abate his zeal, and though surrounded by many and great misfortunes, his aim was always to improve both himself

and