164 Analysis of Scientijlc Books and Memoirs. 



Art. XXVIIL— analysis OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS AND ME- 

 MOIRS. 



Elements of Natural History, adapted to ike present state oftlie Science, 

 containing the generic Characters of nearly the whole Animal Kingdom, 

 and descriptions of the principal Species. By John Stark, F. R. S. E. 

 Member of the Wernerian Natural History Society of Edinburgh, &c. 

 2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1828. Pp. 1044. With Plates. 



We know of no work connected with the subject likely to be more use- 

 ful than the present. Natural History, like the other physical sciences, has 

 within the last twenty years made such progress, and the discovery of new 

 and the investigation of known objects, has occupied such a large share of the 

 attention of the continental writers, that the preceding works on Natural 

 Science give but a faint notion of the numbers, structure, and connection 

 of living beings. In France, particularly, expeditions have been fitted out 

 by government for the purpose of investigating the natural productions of 

 distant countries, and the philosophers at home, among whom are the 

 highest names in science, have been no less industrious in availing them- 

 selves of all the lights which minute observation and careful dissection af- 

 ford for tracing the structure and functions of living beings. This infor- 

 mation, scattered through an immense number of volumes, many of them 

 by no means of easy access, and in foreign or dead languages, presented 

 powerful obstacles to the general acquisition of knowledge on this impor- 

 tant branch of physical science. In the English language, except Dr Tur- 

 ton's translation of Gmelin's edition of the Systema Natures of Linnaeus, 

 and the Elements of A'aiural History, by the late Mr Charles Stewart, also 

 a translation from Linnaeus, there existed no general work calculated to 

 excite or gratify a taste for natural history by an explanation of its princi- 

 ples, or an enumeration of the genera and species. The General Zoology 

 of Dr Shaw, in fourteen volumes 8vo, was left imperfect by the death of 

 the author; but, independent of other objections, the expence of a work of 

 such extent, illustrated with figures of the animals, must have confined its 

 circulation within narrow limits. In the French language Cuvier's Regne 

 Animal is a masterly outline, but totally useless to the student as far as 

 regards generic characters and the enumeration of species. An English 

 translation of this work by Mr Griffiths, with figures and descriptions of 

 new animals, is now in progress. Dumeril's Elements is confined to an ex- 

 position of general principles ; and the German manual of Blumenbach, 

 translated some years ago into English, is merely a short sketch on the Lin- 

 naean principle for the use of his pupils. In short, a work was wanted, in 

 which, besides general considerations on the form, structure, and arrangement 

 of natural bodies, and other elementary information, the generic characters 

 of the whole should be given, as well as descriptions of the principal species. 

 This we understand from his prefatory notice was the intention of Mr Stark 

 in the present work ; and, so far as we have had leisure to examine, it seems 

 well calculated to serve all the purposes of the student or traveller, by en- 



