Strictures upon the commencement of a Publication entitled " Con- 

 cholo(]ic Mineraloijique de la Grande Bretagne, par James Sow - 

 erby. — Traduction Francalse revue, corriyee, aiujmentee, par L. 

 Agassiz." With a Reply by Prof. Agassiz, and a Letter from Mr. 

 J. D. C. Sowerby. 



{From the MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY, New Series, 

 1839,;?. 254.)* 



Some numbers of a work have, within the last few days, come under 

 our notice, the publication of which we see with no small share of sur- 

 prise, mingled with a feeling not far short of indignation. The covers 

 bear the following indication of their contents. — " Conchologie Minera- 

 logique de la Grande Bretagne, par James Sowerby. — Traduction Fran- 

 ^aise revue, corrigee, augmentee, par L. Agassiz." A French version 

 of the text of Mr. Sovverby's Fossil Conchology, with coloured imita- 

 tions of the accompanying figures, and this published at one fourth the 

 cost of the original work, is about the last thing we should have looked 

 for from the hands of Louis Agassiz. The illustrations, for the most 

 part, are but sorry imitations, though sufficiently characteristic to serve 

 for the identification of the species, and thus check at least the foreigu 

 demand for a work, upon which so many years of toil have been expended. 

 As a set-off against this undue appropriation of the labours of another, — 

 this inroad upon the property of a fellow-labourer in the field of science, 

 we are told that " I'utilite d'une edition Frangaise du Mineral Concho- 

 logy, mise a la portee de toutes les bourses devant etre incontestable aux 

 yeux de tons ceux qui favorisent les progres de la Geologic." 



Now if some noble patroniser of science in this country, acting un- 

 der a belief that an English translation of the ' Poissons Fossiles,' 

 with a fac-simile of the numerous illustrations, if published at ten shil- 

 lings each part, instead of thirty, would be very acceptable to all those 

 who are favourable to the progress of Geology, either by the aid of a 

 government grant, or from his own private resources, were to carry this 



* Prof. Agassiz having sent out with the last livraison of his ' Poissons 

 Fossiles' copies of his answer to the Remarks in the Magazine of Natu- 

 ral History, the Editor has in consequence struck off copies of the entire 

 discussion for distribution. — Ed. Mag. Nat. Hist. 



