Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1839, byEdgar A. Poe, in the clerk’s office for the eastern district ofPennsylvania.
The term “Malacology,” an abbreviation of “Malacozoology,”from the Greek μαλακος, soft, ζωον, an animal, andλογος, a discourse, was first employed by the French naturalistDe Blainville to designate an important division of NaturalHistory, in which the leading feature of the animals discussedwas the softness of the flesh, or, to speak with greateraccuracy, of the general envelop. This division comprehendsnot only the Mollusca, but also the Testacea of Aristotleand of Pliny, and, of course, had reference to molluscousanimals in general—of which the greater portion have shells.
A treatise concerning the shells, exclusively, of this greaterportion, is termed, in accordance with general usage, a Treatiseupon Conchology or Conchyliology; although the wordis somewhat improperly applied, as the Greek conchylion,from which it is derived, embraces in its signification boththe animal and shell. Ostracology would have been moredefinite.
The common works upon this subject, however, will appearto every person of science very essentially defective,inasmuch as the relation of the animal and shell, with theirdependence upon each other, is a radically important considerationin the examination of either. Neither, in the attemptto obviate this difficulty, is a work upon Malacologyat large necessarily included. Shells, it is true, form, and,for many obvious reasons, will continue to form, the subjectof chief interest, whether with regard to the school or thecabinet; still there is no good reason why a book upon Conchology(using the common term) may not be malacologicalas far as it