22 MEMOIR OF 



Aristotle's works being for a time unknown to them. 

 But a brighter day at last dawned. Dante and 

 Petrarch did much in the 1 4th century ; the Greeks, 

 driven from Constantinople in the 15th, carried the 

 works of classic ages along with them, printing was 

 invented, America and the Indies w^ere discovered, 

 letters revived, and with them Natural History saw 

 before it a field of boundless extent. Ichthyology 

 was the first branch which revived under these 

 happy auspices ; and the first care of its cultivators 

 was to ascertain and understand what was known 

 upon the subject by the ancients. This task ac- 

 complished, the second great epoch, as already 

 hinted, arrived; the foundation of modern ichthy- 

 ology was laid, and chiefly by the labours of men 

 whose works appeared very much at the same time, 

 Belon's in the year 1555, Rondolet's in 1554-5, 

 and Salviani's in 1554-8. From this statement, it 

 is manifest that these distinguished individuals must 

 have laboured very much independently of each 

 other, though they were cotemporaries ; and hence 

 each merits a separate consideration, and presents 

 a distinct claim to our respectful regard. 



HiPPOLiTO Salviani was born in the year 1514, 

 in La Citta di Castello, situated on the Tiber (the 

 ancient Tifernum Metaurense)^ twenty- seven miles 

 s. w. of Urbino, the capital of the Duchy of that 

 name. He was of noble descent*; and after hav- 

 ing finished his general education, he studied medi- 

 * See Biographie Universelle, sub. voce. 



