MINERAL CONCHOLOGY. 361 



private subscription, still that his ' Poissons Fossiles ' has been to him 

 " une source intarissable de desagremens et de sacrifices." Surely then 

 this, his own experience, might have suggested to Agassiz the impor- 

 tance of every possible encouragement being held out to the present au- 

 thor of the ' Mineral Conchology,' with a view to the continuation of that 

 work, rather than that the continental demand should, for the future, be 

 supplied by an edition so low in price, that competition on the part of 

 Mr. Sowerby would be utterly impossible. 



As it respects the minor points adverted to by Agassiz, we shall be very 

 brief. That an English sale of the cheap edition was calculated upon, 

 we feel satisfied, because a large number of prospectuses have been dis- 

 patched to this country, and great pains taken to circulate them; but 

 whether at the instigation of Prof. Agassiz or his lithographer, we cannot 

 say. The general principle of translating scientific works from one lan- 

 guage into another is utterly foreign to the question, and cannot possibly 

 be brought to bear upon those publications whose scientific value is vested 

 in faithful representations of species, fac similes of which can be at any 

 time produced at an enormous reduction of expense below that which 

 they have originally cost the author. 



That Agassiz is altogether in error on the subject of the relation in 

 which the present Mr. James De Carle Sowerby stands in respect to the 

 1 Mineral Conchology,' is clear from the following passage, which will be 

 found in No. 105. " To the public the author feels deeply indebted, 

 and cannot refrain from declaring his gratitude for the encouragement 

 bestowed upon a work commenced by his lamented father, and in the con- 

 tinuation of which he himself has incurred so much responsibility." — 

 Dated Camden Town, July. 1835. 1 



As to the numerous additions and corrections in the French edition upon 

 which Agassiz seems to plume himself, we cannot give him a great deal 

 of credit on this score, when his zeal for science has not induced him to 

 procure from England such species as are now well known and readily 

 obtained in a more perfect condition than some of the specimens figured 

 in the early numbers of Mr. Sowerby's work. And upon the subject of 

 an English edition of the ' Poissons Fossiles,' though, as far as we are 

 aware, nothing of the kind is in contemplation, yet if its author really 



1 It is hardly necessary to observe that since the publication of the 

 above number in 1835, English geologists have been anxiously hoping 

 that Mr. J. de C. Sowerby would again proceed with the continuation of 

 the ' Mineral Conchology.' 

 Vol. III.— No. 31. n. s. 2p 



