Griffith's Cuvier, 



215 



a specimen which has never been seen 

 by any other person." Mr. Lindley 

 considers himself fortunate in having 

 an opportunity of describing a second 

 species, which agrees well with the 

 description of Linnaeus. — Combretum 

 comosum (^g. 142.); Decan. Monog., 

 and Combretaceae ; is a fine climbing 

 plant brought from thickets at Sierra 

 Leone, by Mr. G. Don, and grown 

 here in the stove. 



Griffith, Edward, F.L.S., and others : 

 The Animal Kingdom described and 

 arranged, in conformity with its or- 

 ganisation, by the Baron Cuvier. 

 With additional Descriptions of all 

 the Species hitherto named ; of many 

 not before noticed ; and other ori- 

 ginal matter, London. 8vo, many plates. Parts L to XV. 

 The value of the original work of Cuvier is well established : the duty of 

 the reviewer, therefore, is to ascertain the fidelity of the translation, and 

 the merits of the additional descriptions. It would have given us pleasure 

 could we have bestowed on the correctness of the translation unqualified 

 praise ; but justice requires us to say, that, though it generally conveys to 

 the English reader a sufficiently clear view of the author's meaning, there 

 are several parts in which the sense is imperfectly or very incorrectly given. 

 For instance, p. 26 of the translation : — " Vegetables derive their nourish- 

 ment from the SUN, and from the circumfluent atmosphere in the form of 

 water," &c. Cuvier says, " the soil and the atmosphere present to plants 

 for their nourishment, water," &c. " Le sol" may, doubtless, be either the 

 sun or the soil, but the obvious meaning of the author might have directed 

 the translator which word to choose ; and, more particularly, as, in the 

 preceding page, there occurs nearly the same passage : " Vatmosphhe et la 

 terre apportent aux v^g^taux des sues," &c. In page 22. of the translation, 

 we find the following remarkable error: "All organised beings produce 

 their like, otherivise death woidd be a necessary consequence of life, and the 

 species must become extinct." This passage is utterly unintelligible, or, to 

 speak more plainly, the extreme of absurdity. The author has before stated 

 that death is a necessary consequence of the continued action of life on the 

 animal frame ; and the sentence so improperly translated, refers to this 

 action on the vital organs. '' Tous les etres organises produisent leur 

 semblables, autrement la mo7't Hant une suite necessaire de la vie, leurs especes 

 nepourraient subsister." Nothing can be more clearly expressed, or more 

 easy to translate literally: — " All organised beings produce their like ; were 

 it not so, death being a necessary consequence of vital action, the species 

 must become extinct." We might quote other errors in the translation of 

 the first sixty pages, for which it would be difficult to account, except by 

 supposing that the translation has been made from an inaccurate copy of 

 the original. 



The notes and the original matter of the translator and his colabo- 

 rateurs, have greatly increased the bulk of the work ; and the number of 

 the engravings have greatly enhanced its price ; the latter, at least, without 

 any thing like proportionately adding to its value. The plan of getting up 

 the book has not been properly digested before it was commenced. If 

 engravings were to be given, either every species described ought to have 

 been figured, or only one species of each order, tribe, or genus ; or only 

 such figures as were necessary to illustrate technicalities. Instead of this. 



