Viewed as the founder of comparative anatomy, Cuvier (1769-1832) was the first to apply systematic analysis and comparisons to the entire animal kingdom by dividing animals into classes. Cuvier also saw that the homogeneity of the individual should enable a competent naturalist to reconstruct a complete animal from any significant part of its anatomy.[PMM] In this Discourse (first English language edition), Cuvier discusses skeletal remains and what they may reveal about environmental change over the course of geological time.