Engraved by J. Horsburgh.LINNÆUS.
PUBLISHED BY OLIVER & BOYD, EDINBURGH
LIVES
OF
EMINENT ZOOLOGISTS,
FROM
ARISTOTLE TO LINNÆUS:
WITH
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY,
AND
OCCASIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY.
BY W. MACGILLIVRAY, A.M., F.R.S.E., &c.
Author of "A Narrative of the Travels and Researches of Alexander VonHumboldt."
WITH A PORTRAIT OF LINNÆUS ENGRAVED BY HORSBURGH.
SECOND EDITION.
EDINBURGH:
OLIVER & BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT;
AND SIMPKIN & MARSHALL, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXIV.
ENTERED IN STATIONERS' HALL.
Printed by Oliver & Boyd,
Tweeddale Court, High Street, Edinburgh.
PREFACE.
Natural History has of late become a favourite pursuit in this country;and although its progress as a study may not have been equal to theenthusiasm which it has excited, its general effect is unquestionablybeneficial. In consequence of the interest which it has created, a greatvariety of works, from the simple catechism to the elaborate treatise,have appeared in rapid succession. But while compends and manuals arethus multiplied, little has been said with regard to the private historyand professional pursuits of the distinguished persons who havecontributed most to the general stock of knowledge from which thesepopular essays have in a great measure been derived. We have, therefore,endeavoured in some degree to supply this deficiency, by presenting aseries of Lives of the more Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle toLinnæus inclusive.
In the Introduction will be found a view of the objects, to theinvestigation of which the talents of the individuals whose annals werecord were principally directed. The remarks there offered arecalculated to enable such readers as may not have been[Pg 4] previouslyacquainted with the subject to comprehend many circumstances which mightotherwise appear unintelligible.
Few, even of those who have made considerable progress in the study ofnature, are aware of the difficulties with which the ancientphilosophers had to contend. For this reason we have begun withAristotle, the founder of Natural History among the Greeks. A biographyof the elder Pliny, the greatest of Roman writers in this department,comes next in order. The lives of the more remarkable zoologists whoflourished after the revival of learning in Europe are briefly sketched;while some degree of connexion has been given to the series by remarkson the progress of knowledge at that period, on the labours of theircontemporaries, and on the principal works which occasionally issuedfrom colleges and museums. Although it is unnecessary here to enumerateall the names that enter into the catalogue of zoological writers of thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Swammerdam, Ray, and Reaumur, maybe particularly mentioned. The great Linnæus witnessed the terminationof those dark ages, during which his favourite pursuits were treatedwith comparative neglect, and the commencement of a happier era, inwhich they were to assume the dignity of a science. His life is givenwith more detail than those of his predecessors, both because the factsrelating to him are more abundant, and because he exercised a moredecided influence upon th