O NATURAL HISTORY OP 



well fitted to teach. At last, however, the oppo- 

 sition which would not succumb to the controversies 

 of the learned doctors and masters of science, gave 

 way before the calm investigations of a London 

 merchant. The death-blow to the mineral and 

 vegetable t-heories alike was struck bj the hand 

 of John Ellis, who devoted his leisure time to the 

 study of natural objects. He seems to have lived in 

 undisturbed serenity whilst the conflict of opinion was 

 raging around ; as in his book — the publication of 

 which practically settled the question — he does not 

 once allude to the controversy, or appear to be aware 

 of it. The causes which led to the publication of his 

 epoch-making work were as simple and unlikely as 

 could be conceived. Ellis had been in the habit for 

 his own amusement of making pictui-es of sea-weeds, 

 corallines, &c., in which the sea-weeds served for 

 the groundwork and more prominent objects, and 

 the zoophytes were inserted as trees and shrubs. He 

 informs us, in the preface to his book, that his friend. 

 Dr. Stephen Hales, was pleased to express great 

 pleasure in viewing those landscapes, and desired 

 him to make some for the Princess Dowager of Wales, 

 and also requested him to collect all the varieties 

 our sea-coasts afforded, which he did by the help 

 of his friend, George Sheloocke, Esq., and some of 

 his acquaintances in Ireland. In order to distin- 

 guish the proper characters of the different species 

 with greater accuracy, he found it necessary to examine 

 them with the microscope ; by which he meant, not 

 the elaborate instrument which modern observers use, 

 but one more like a dissecting microscope, with 

 simple lenses. He early found that the texture of 



