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These hand colored copper plate prints from 'The Animal Kingdom
Arranged According to its Organization" by Baron Georges Cuvier,
(originally published in 1817 in France as Le Regne Animal Distribue
D'apres son Organisation), were printed in London in 1837. This edition
contained nearly 800 plates, all painstakingly colored by the finest
craftsmen of the day. Each print reflects Cuvier's deep knowledge of
comparative anatomy and represents a portion of the first systematic
classification of the animal kingdom. Even today these pieces display a
technical standard rarely surpassed. You see before you a fragment of mans
scientific history as well as a beautiful work of art.
Baron Georges Leopold Chretien Fredric Dagobert Cuvier was born
August 23, 1769 in Montbeliard, in the duchy of Wurttemberg. Although
largely self taught, he did attend the Carolinian Academy in Stuttgart from
1784 to 1788, absorbing what little knowledge there was at the time on
animal classification. He went on to work for years at the Museum of
Natural History in Paris, becoming the Professor of Comparative Anatomy
in 1795. In 1799 he was appointed Professor of Natural History at the
College de France. He was subsequently named General of Education by
Napoleon and went on to be Councillor of State under Napoleon and Louis
XVIII. He was one of very few public figures to serve three French
governments ( Revolutionary, Napoleonic, and Monarchy) and keep his
head. By the time of his death in 1832 he had been Knighted and made
Baron and Peer of France.
Cuvier was one of the greatest minds in scientific history, almost single-
handedly founding the science of vertebrae paleontology and firmly
establishing the extinction of past life forms. First to devise a systematic
natural classification of the animal kingdom, his system, presented in a
lecture in 1796 and published two years later, divided animals into four
great classes, Articulata, Radiata, Vertebrata, and Mollusca. He also
developed a theory that animals became extinct through natural catastrophe
rather than through inability to adapt, and proposed a doctrine of the
immutability of species. His analysis of cats from Egyptian tombs led him to
argue that organic evolution did not occur, since ancient felines were so
similar to their modern counterparts. This brought him in conflict with
contemporary naturalists. Although a staunch anti-evolutionist, his detailed
understanding of anatomy and extinct species was often cited by
evolutionists as evidence of dynamism in species development. His
influence in France delayed acceptance of Darwin's theory of evolution. These prints measure approximately 6.5" by 11".
Therapon puta
$70.00
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