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of these were repeated under three or four denominations, ac- 

 cording to the discrepancies which they exhibited as the results 

 of a difference in age, sex, season, or locality, this addition to the 

 kingdom of nature was, in many instances, rather nominal than 

 real. As, however, the disciples of the Linnean school were 

 numerous, wherever the science of Zoology was successfully cul- 

 tivated, and as the 18th edition of the Systema Natures (that of 

 Gmelin), was, if not the most complete, at least the most com- 

 prehensive, which then existed, it was almost universally adopt- 

 ed as a standard work, by the knowledge of which the subjects 

 of Natural History were to be ascertained and arranged. This 

 general adoption of the Gmelinian system, has been productive 

 of the greatest disadvantages, and its abiding influence continues 

 to propagate error, and pervert the truth. His ignorance in 

 Ornithology was remarkable, and the confusion which resulted 

 from it has not yet been dispelled *. His chief blunders arose 

 from the v/ant of attention to the sexual characters of the species, 

 and the peculiar marks which distinguish the young, the adoles- 

 cent, and the mature of both sexes, and from his entire ignorance 

 of that double moulting which takes place so extensively, especial- 

 ly among the shore and water birds. In short, every thing 

 which fell in his way, which differed in any respect from the 

 descriptions contained in the 12th edition, was inserted as a new 

 species ; and he thus undeservedly gained the reputation of 

 having more widely extended the field of observation, than any 

 of his cotemporaries. The term Systema Naturae^ associated as 

 it was in the minds of all with the wonderful accuracy of Linnaeus, 

 served of itself as a kind of passport to his blunders. 



The chief inconvenience which has sprung from the system 

 of Gmelin, is this ; his specific names having been adopted both 

 in numerous systematic works, and in such books of Voyages 

 and Travels as related, either directly or indirectly, to the pur- 

 suits of Natural History, they have become so associated with al- 

 most all the older species, that it is impossible to illustrate clear- 



* We regret to observe, that, in the recent republication of Dr Latham's 

 Synopsis, under the title of a General History of Birds, though some additions 

 have been made to the original text, scarcely any alterations or corrections 

 have been attempted, so as to place the work upon a level with the improved 

 and extended condition of the science. 



