MULLER. 513 



characters, yet we arc above all indebted to liini i'or his 

 strong advocacy of the maxim that the anatomy of the ani- 

 mal is the sole sure foundation of a rational arrangement 

 which has in view the mutual affinities of the objects it 

 attempts to classify, and to present them not fancifully com- 

 mixed as they might be placed in a museum, but according 

 to those characters which Nature itself has given them of 

 affinity or dissemblance. " There is then," he says, " in shell- 

 fish something more to consider than their shells ; the snail 

 which tenants them ought to guide our methodical arrange- 

 ments, to be our only regulator, since it is the principal part, 

 that which gives to the exterior skeleton its form, size, 

 hardness, colours, and all the other peculiarities in it which 

 we admire. If we attentively examine this new and for- 

 gotten race, if we consider individually the members of it, 

 we shall discover in their manners, in their actions, in their 

 movements and manner of life, an infinitude of curious cir- 

 cumstances, of facts interesting and fitted to arrest the at- 

 tention of every zealous and intelligent observer ; we shall 

 perceive in the organism of their bodies a great number of 

 parts remarkable in their structure and use ; and in entering 

 into details we shall soon be compelled to grant that this 

 study is no childish pla}", but as thorny and fvdl of difficul- 

 ties as any other in the wide range of natural history."* 



The example of Adanson was followed by Geoffroy who, in 

 a history of the shells foimd in the vicinity of Paris, attempted 

 to arrange them on the external anatomy of their animals ; 

 and by Midler, who described in the same manner the Mol- 

 lusca of the north of Europe. The writings of Midler are 

 still deservedly held in high estimation. They contain the 

 descriptions of many novelties, and his descriptions of them, 

 as well as of species previously known, are remarkable for 

 their accuracy ; they are thickly strewed with notices of the 

 external anatomy and habits of those he had examined alive ; 

 and his style of writing is interesting, rising occasionally to 

 eloquence. As an observer and teller of what he had observed, 

 he claims a place among the first, but he was the discoverer 

 of no fact in their structure or physiology of any conse- 

 quence — we speak in reference to the MoUusca only ; and his 

 systematic efibrts were limited and partial, although he some- 

 times drops a hint on the subject, which makes us almost 

 believe that he was capable of better things, had he had 

 courage to have made the attempt. -j- In relation to the Mol- 



* Lib. sup. cit. pref. x. 



t His Method, as detailed by himself, is as artificial as the Liniifcan, and 

 actually less in harmony with the animal orcanization. 



L L 



