54 INTRODUCTION. 



by the results of the scientific voyages of Com- 

 merson, Sonnerat, &c., and in their physiological 

 researches, by the works of Haller, Camper, 

 Monro, and John Hunter. 



Following these great names, we had, for the 

 arrangement and descriptive parts, the Ichthy- 

 ologies of Lacepede, Kussell, Shaw, Dumeril, 

 Eisso, Rafinesqiie, Donovan, Jurine, Hamilton 

 Buchanan, and the outline of Cuvier in the 

 Regne Animal : these men availed themselves of 

 the numerous scientific voyages which Europe, 

 at the termination of the last and commencement 

 of the present century, has been so liberally 

 supporting, and which have collected so much 

 information in every branch of Natural History; 

 while in the physiological details may be men- 

 tioned the names of Geoffrey St. Hilaire, Carus, 

 Humboldt, and Sir Everard Home. 



In this immense array of science, in which 

 have been noted, as it were, only the very 

 heads, a stupendous collection of facts have been 

 recorded, which, however important, curious, or 

 amusing, remained alone on the authority of 

 their discoverers, memorials of their persevering 

 research ; but they were neither arranged nor 

 collected, and the want of some general system 

 for this science, by which a definitive state of 

 our knowledge could be gained, was indispen- 



