146 ZOOLOGY OF BEECHEY's VOYAGE. 



" Gray's failing to furnish his part, in spite of every intercession from my- 

 " self and others : promising his MS. from time to time, and thereby keep- 

 " in g the department in his own hands, yet always disappointing the print- 

 "er, until at length, from other causes, the publisher (Mr. Richter) fell 

 " into difficulties, and all the plates and letter-press were sold by the as- 

 " signees, and lost to the government. 



" The plates and sheets thus dispersed were however with difficulty and 

 " at considerable expense brought together, by the spirited conduct of the, 

 " present publisher, Mr. H. G. Bohn ; who, anxious that the work should 

 " if possible be completed, again applied to Mr. Gray, but much against 

 " my wishes. That gentleman however repeated his offer of assistance, but 

 " as before it served only to delay the work another year. At length Mr, 

 " G. B. Sowerby was engaged to complete the Conchology, and to revise 

 " the unprinted portion of Mr. Gray's MSS., and thus after an unpre- 

 " cedented and vexatious delay, and with a considerable additional ex- 

 " pense, I am now only able to submit the work to the public." 



Now if naturalists, either knowingly or through inadvertence, so place 

 themselves, as to stand committed, they must not expect to enjoy a mono- 

 poly of exemption from the natural consequences ; but must take their 

 chance with the race of ordinary mortals. It is for the interest of sci- 

 ence, equally with that of society, that misdemeanours should not pass 

 altogether unregarded, however high may be the names with which they 

 stand connected. We do not, therefore, impute blame to Sir William 

 Beechey, on the score of what he has said in assigning a cause for the 

 long period during which the work has been forthcoming, although 

 every one must regrel that he should have felt himself under the neces- 

 sity of passing such severe comments upon one of the officers attached 

 to the British Museum ; but we have an objection to offer to the shape 

 in which these strictures are presented to our notice. The statement is 

 purely an ex parte one, for it comes before us, through a channel which 

 affords the party criminated no opportunity of reply. Mr. Gray appears 

 as the avowed author of one portion of the volume, and as such, we con- 

 ceive that he was, beyond all dispute, entitled to a copy of the indict- 

 ment prior to its publication, with the liberty of defending himself, if he 

 thought proper. For aught we know, this step may have been taken, but 

 we assume that it was not, as no intimation of such course having been 

 followed, is affixed to the article in question. 



On our first and hasty look through the work, to gain a mere insight 

 into the nature of its contents, our attention was caught by a passage 

 occurring in Mr Gray's introductory remarks to the Malacological de- 

 partment, one which still comes out under his responsibility. It was 



