MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. . 61 



as to the true builder and owner of the graceful shell (p. 553), years after 

 all question on the matter has been set at rest by positive observation and 

 experiment. 



While we think it right not to pass by unnoticed the omissions or defects 

 of this excellent manual, we most cordially concede to M. Milne Edwards 

 the rare honour of both advancing zoological knowledge by original re- 

 search, and diffusing it by the production of an elementary work, which has 

 been welcomed wherever it has appeared. In these countries it is well 

 known to every naturalist, and its beautiful illustrations, by means of casts 

 and electrotypes, supplied by the publisher, have been multiplied, and served 

 as illustrations for other works of a similar kind. 



We are tempted to pause as we pass along, and meditate on the good 

 that this small volume may be expected to accomplish. It is widely spread 

 over France ; it has sailed along the Mediterranean, steamed on the Rhine, 

 climbed the Pyrenees, and nestled in quiet valleys amid the Alps. In every 

 place it has, doubtless, found some ardent inquirer, whose views have been 

 rendered clearer, and whose progress has been aided by the lore gleaned 

 from its pages. Who can venture to estimate the impetus given to the 

 onward march of Zoology by the ardour of youthful recruits thus enrolled 

 under her banner ? 



From the original work we now turn to the u Translation" recently 

 published by Dr. Knox ; and we desire to know, in the first instance, in 

 what spirit, and for what objects, it has been undertaken ? And, next, to 

 what extent it has been successfully accomplished ? With regard to the 

 first point, Dr. Knox has afforded us the requisite information, in the 

 following words : — 



" Thinking it would be but an act of justice, though tardy, to place 

 before the English reader a work of an esteemed friend, which, according 

 to the fashion of the day, has formed the stock in trade of so many 

 English, Scotch, Irish, and American literary contrabandists, I wrote M. 

 Edwards on the subject, and received from him the following letter — a 

 guarantee to the public that the translation has been undertaken with the 

 author's full approbation." The letter is then given, and the following 

 words are, we presume, to be regarded as the " guarantee" to which re- 

 ference has just been made : — " II ne peut m' <3tre que tres agreable de 

 voir paraitre sous vos auspices une traduction Anglaise de mon petit 

 ouvrage elementaire de Zoologie." 



In the next paragraph of the prefatory notice Dr. Knox proceeds thus : 

 " As a scientific man, and a teacher of Anatomy and of the great prin- 



G 



