When the Count de Seze replied to an eloquent discourse of Cuvier, he
stated that, "since the Restoration, Cuvier was the second example of
fortunate combination of literature and science, and that he had been
preceded only by that illustrious geometer, (the Marquis de Laplace),
whom we may call the _Newton_ of France." In referring to the European
reputation of Cuvier, and to the vast extent and variety of his
knowledge, he applied to him the happy observation which Fontenelle made
respecting Leibnitz--that while the ancients made one Hercules out of
several, we might, out of one Cuvier, make several philosophers.
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