ies badly divided, or genera
too numerous in species, and difficulties insurmountable to
students.

"If the Committee of Public Instruction had the time to devote any
attention to the importance of my project, to the utility of
publishing such a work, and perhaps to the duty prescribed by the
national honor, I would say to it that, after having for a long time
reflected and meditated and determined upon the most feasible plan,
finally after having seen amassed and prepared the most essential
materials, I offer to put this beautiful project into execution. I
have not lost sight of the difficulties of this great enterprise. I
am, I believe, as well aware of them, and better, than any one else;
but I feel that I can overcome them without descending to a simple
and dishonorable compilation of what foreigners have written on the
subject. I have some strength left to sacrifice for the common
advantage; I have had some experience and practice in writing works
of this kind; my herbarium is one of the richest in existence; my
numerous collection of shells is almost the only one in France the
specimens of which are determined and named according to the method
adopted by modern naturalists--finally, I am in a position to profit
by all the aid which is to be found in the National Museum of
Natural History. With these means brought together, I can then hope
to prepare in a suitable manner this interesting work.

"I had at first thought that the work should be executed by a
society of naturalists; but after having given this idea much
thought, and having already the example of the new encyclopaedia, I
am convinced that in such a case the work would be very defective in
arrangement, without unity or plan, without any harmony of
principles, and that its composition might be interminable.

"Written with the greatest possible conciseness, this work could not
be comprised in less than eight volumes in 8vo, namely: One volume
for the quadrupeds and birds; one volume for the reptiles and
fishes; two volumes for the insects; one volume for the worms (the
molluscs, madrepores, lithophytes, and naked worms); two volumes for
the plants; one volume for the minerals: eight volumes in all.

"It is impossible to prepare in France a work of this nature without
having special aid from the nation, because the expense of printing
(on account of the enormous quantity of citati