bronn's animal kingdom. 353 



tiou can hardly be overrated ; it is to this, more than anything, that 

 the philosophical naturalist owes his preeminence over the mere 

 observer and collector ; and by it and the knowledge which it gives 

 of the phases through which opinion has passed, the student of 

 science, as of some other subjects, may be preserved from a bigotry 

 and prejudice to which his not more earnest but less instructed 

 brethren are but too liable. Professor Bronn's historical notices are 

 necessarily very brief, but they suffice to indicate the general direc- 

 tion in which the student must push his investigations ; and the 

 excellent lists that he has given of the principal works and memoirs 

 extant in each class, will furnish great assistance in carrying out this 

 object. 



In his treatment of each class the author adopts the following course. 

 Commencing with a dissertation on the names oiven to the class and 

 its zoological history, followed by an admirably arranged bibliography, 

 in which the general nature of the contents of each work is indicated 

 by a word or two, which takes the place of the title in the case of 

 Memoirs published in Journals and the Transactions of Societies, he 

 proceeds to describe in detail the anatomical structure of the 

 members of the class, including under this head the anatomy of the 

 external form, the histology of the animals as far as it is known, and 

 the nature of the organs of which the body is composed. These 

 particulars are followed by indications of the chemical constituents 

 found in the animals and in their different parts, and these again by 

 general considerations on the functions of the organs, and the means 

 by which they are employed for the purposes of the individual. In a 

 special section devoted to the life- history of the animals forming each 

 class, we find a full account of the various phases of development 

 through which they pass, a department of the subject which, especially 

 as regards the lower animals, presents the most attractive field for 

 the observations of the Zoologist. Throughout the foregoing sections 

 the author has necessarily derived the greater part of his materials 

 from the labours of other observers, but the facts thus presented 

 have been elaborated by him in so perfect a manner, that the student 

 wiU find in his pages an almost perfect digest of the present condition 

 of these branches of Zoology, so arranged as to be peculiarly easy of 

 reference. 



In liis sections on Classification, Professor Bronn has not been 

 contented with describing the characters of the orders into which he 

 divides each class, but has furnished his readers with a tabular analysis 

 N.H.R.— 1865. 2 B 



