J.-L. Cuvier. The kingdom of animals. Seamless. Crustaceans

Georges-Leopold Cuvier (1769-1832), French natural scientist, naturalist, founder of paleontology and comparative anatomy, was born in the city of Montellar on the border of France and Switzerland. His father, a retired military man, wanted to see his son by a pastor, the boy possessed a phenomenal memory and studied well. However, Georges showed interest in natural science early. His favorite book was the "natural story" of the Buffon, which he read and re -read and soon began to understand animals and birds as a real biologist. After studying at the University of Stuttgart, Georges lived in Normandy for several years, working as a home teacher with Count D"Arisi and simultaneously studying and preparing the animals of the sea coast. Here he collected his collection of fossils and thought about their origin. The knowledge accumulated (including self-education) allowed him in 1895, after moving to Paris at the invitation of J. St. Iler, to take a worthy place among the capital"s scientists. In 1800, Cuvier headed the department at College de France. In the future, he was elected a member of the French Academy of Sciences, became a member of a number of foreign academies, held state posts under Napoleon and Louis Filipp. For scientific works and public service, J. Cuvier received the title of Peer of France and the title of Baron. The name of Georges Cuvier is engraved under the cornice of the first tier of the Eiffel Tower among the 72 most outstanding scientists of France.
The merits of Georges Cuvier in the field of natural science are difficult to overestimate. The full name of his famous work sounds so the "kingdom of animals, distributed by his organization in order to serve as the basis for the natural history of animals and the introduction into a comparative anatomy." We see that the name of the work emphasizes the connection of systematics with comparative anatomy.
Comparative anatomy of Cuvier is based on the principle of correlation, comparison of all parts of animal organs. He wrote: "every organized creature forms a whole, a single closed system, parts of which correspond to each other and contribute, through mutual influence, of one ultimate goal. None of these parts may change without the other and, therefore, each of them, taken separately, indicates and determines all the others. ” So, in a predator, for example, both teeth and organs of vision, movement and digestion have a structure that allows you to serve the purpose of catching and tease the prey. In grass animals, all organs are arranged, respectively, in another way.
This principle helped Cuvier to restore the skeleton and the appearance of some extinct mammals and reptiles on several fossil bones. He said: "Give me one bone and I will restore the animal." Cuvier is considered one of the founders of paleontology. He proved that the animals of the Earth regularly died out, before him this statement was not recognized for religious reasons. Cuvier was not a supporter of the theory of evolution, he believed that each species of the animal world was created immediately fully responding to the conditions of its existence, and explained the appearance of new species by the global catastrophes that took place on Earth. The theory of disasters as the only explanation of the development of animal species was subsequently rejected, and, despite the beliefs of Cuvye, its work made a huge contribution to the proof of the theory of the evolution of the animal world.
Cuvier divorced all living and extinct animals into four types or branches: vertebrates (Vertebrata), mollusks (mollusca), joint (articulata) and radiant, or zoofita, (Radiata) By grouping animals, Cuvier repelled from the structure of their nervous system, which determines the activities of the rest of the body