Abstract
André Marie Constant Duméril (1774–1860) was at first an anatomist: on August 7, 1799, he was appointed chief of the anatomical works at the Paris Faculty of Medicine. As such, he helped Georges Cuvier in his anatomical researches, and from 1797 onwards he copied out his lectures; later, starting from 1802, he took the place of Cuvier to teach Natural History. Cuvier was grateful and stimulated him to work at the Paris Museum. Cuvier was convincing and effective: on June 16, 1803, he could offer Duméril a position as assistant of Lacepède1, who was head of the herpetological and ichthyological department of zoology. In his turn, Duméril had to be thankful, and he wrote a Traité d’Histoire Naturelle (1804), in which his “friend” Cuvier was greatly acknowledged; the author made clear that this work was a Cuvier’s “order”.