Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1239

GEORGES CUVIER (1769-1832) Leçons d'anatomie comparée de G. Cuvier. Baudouin [1800]-1805 Recueillies et publiées sous ses yeux par C. Duméril. 52 plates, 7 fold. tables. 19.8 cm.

A French naturalist and professor of natural history at the Collège de France, Cuvier is generally regarded as the founder of modern comparative anatomy and vertebrate paleontology. He based his work on the essential regularity and orderliness of nature, which led to his theory of the correlation of parts, stating that each part of an organism was necessarily related to the other parts. Although Cuvier recognized and identified distinct sequences of life forms, he was no evolutionist, believing rather that each species was fixed from the beginning and that extinct species and variations observed in fossil forms were caused by a series of supernatural interventions, the latest of which was Noah's flood. Although the influence of Cuvier's authority caused this theory to be widely accepted, delaying the acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution, his view that an animal's structure was due to its function and habits is common today. This massive work, a classic in organization and clarity, very largely defined the state of knowledge of comparative anatomy during the early nineteenth century.

Cited references: Cushing C667; Garrison-Morton 311; Waller 2254; Wellcome II, p. 423

Gift of John Martin, M.D.