CUVIER, GEORGES L.C.F.

Tableau élémentaire de l'Histoire Naturelle des Animaux.

Paris, Baudouin, An 6 (1798). 8vo. Contemp. hcalf, richly gilt back. Titlelabel with gilt lettering. Corners a bit bumped, otherwise fine. XVI,710 pp. and 14 engraved plates with many figs. A few scattered brownspots. Printed on good paper.

First editiuon of Cuvier's first work on comparative zoology, in which he showed the affinities and similarities in the structure of present forms of animals, researches which resulted in comparison with older forms and thereby giving the material for other theorists to suggest evolutionary lines and links. Cuvier is considered as the founder of modern palaeontology by this and his later published work "Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles..."
"Cuvier's first separate work "Tableau...(1798)", is based on a course of lectures he had delivered at l'Ecole du Pantheon. It wa the first general statement of his naltural classification of the aninal kingdom...He established the four great classes (vertebrates, molluscs, articulates, and radiates) and classified the animals according to the anatomical structure." (Milestones of Science No. 44) - Wood p. 307.

Order-nr.: 38049