5 2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Fig. 4. 



grams, and the engraver boldly faces all the difficulties of texture 

 and markings, and uses his best resources to overcome them. His 

 success is notable, as the photographic reprints show, and work 

 under Gesner must have contributed not a little to the advance- 

 ment of wood engraving. 

 The cuts which are here 

 reproduced are selected 

 to exhibit the wide field 

 which Gesner covers, 

 and to show at the same 

 time something of the 

 resources of his engrav- 

 ers, and, while good 

 drawings have been 

 chosen, no attempt to 

 pick out the best has 

 been made. All the re- 

 productions are consid- 

 erably reduced, and they 

 give a false impression 

 of delicacy, although 

 they faithfully exhibit 

 the accuracy and versatility of the old engraver. 



The names of very few of the draughtsmen or engravers are 

 known, but Gesner says that Lucas Schron drew the birds, and 

 that Albrecht Diirer made the cut of the rhinoceros. 



This statement has led many writers on wood engraving to 

 reproduce this cut, which has thus become familiar to us, al- 

 though it is by no means a fair sample of Gesner's illustrations. 



The typography of Gesner's book and the binding of many of 

 the copies are as notable as the cuts. In fact, all the craftsmen 

 met the author in generous rivalry and mutual inspiration, and 

 it would be difficult to produce a nobler monument than that 

 which their combined labors created. 



While Gesner has recorded many original observations, the 

 work as a whole is a compilation undertaken for the express pur- 

 pose of gathering in one book a summary of all trustworthy ob- 

 servations on living things. The work was done so thoroughly 

 that it records for all time the status of natural science in his day, 

 and forms a permanent landmark in its history. 



Its educational influence upon his contemporaries was due to 

 the attractive and simple way in which he presents the subject, 

 but its scientific value to-day is due to the exhaustive complete- 

 ness with which he compiled it. 



He read nearly two hundred and fifty authors and his literary 

 learning is almost unparalleled. The list of authorities quoted 



