Cuvier

1817 · réf. elala537 — Paris: Deterville… 1817. 1817. 4 Volumes. 8vo. pp. xxxvii 540; xviii 532; xxix 653; viii 255. with half-titles. 15 engraved plates by Pierron after Laurillard. 10 folding engraved plates from another work bound in at end. contemporary quarter sheep gilt backs spines somewhat worn several joints cracked scattered foxing. bookplate 1825 ownership entry 1834 & rubberstamp on title of A.Chambion on titles. First Edition of Cuvier’s most comprehensive work which embodied the whole of his previous researches on the structure of living and fossil animals and laid the foundations of modern comparative anatomy. Here Cuvier introduced his famous classification system according to which the animal kingdom is divided into four main groups ‘vertebrata’ ‘mollusca’ ‘articulata’ insects lobsters and ‘radiata’ all remaining types. "This type theory is Cuvier’s greatest contribution in the sphere of systematization and represents although in a somewhat modified form the basis of all subsequent animal classification." Nordenskiöld Opposing the current view that the structure of an animal determined its functions and habits Cuvier maintained that an animal’s structure was due to its functions and habits. Throughj the exact study of the anatomy of living and fossil species he could reconstruct extinct forms from a few surviving bones. At the end of Volume IV pp. 95-170 is an important annotated bibliography of zoological literature. Brit. Museum Cat. of Natural History I 410. Brunet II 457 incorrectly citing date 1816. Casey Wood 307. Dibner Heralds of Science 195. Nissen 1013. Nordenskiöld History of Biology pp. 339-41. Printing and the Mind of Man 276. Sparrow Milestones of Science 42 Plate 134 pp. 31-32. Waller 11796. Wellcome II 423 incomplete. cfGarrison & Morton 327. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Paris: Deterville…, 1817. Hardcover