RISE AND PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. 27 



Hence it becomes evident that the chief design of 

 Willughby was only to admit into his history such 

 birds as he had himself seen, or of whose existence 

 there could be no doubt, — an admirable principle, 

 in full accordance with the Baconian philosophy; 

 and which, in this instance at least, establishes the 

 superiority of his judgment over that of his editor. 

 It was clearly with this view of acquiring original 

 information that Willughby travelled in different 

 parts of the Continent, " where he made so good 

 progress in this work (his Ornithology) that few of 

 our European animals, described by others, had 

 escaped his view." And so ardent was his love of 

 personal investigation, to the intent "that he might, 

 as far as in him lay, perfect the history of animals, 

 that he actually designed a voyage into the New 

 World ; " but the fiat of that beneficent Being, whose 

 works he studied, and whose precepts he observed 

 — for he was eminently pious — ordained otherwise: 

 the hand of death arrested his bright career, and he 

 died, in the year 1672, at the early age of thirty- 

 seven. Willughby was the most accomplished 

 zoologist of this or any other country ; for all the 

 honour that has been given to Ray, so far as con- 

 cerns systematic zoology, belongs exclusively to 

 him. He alone is the author of that system which 

 both Ray and Linnaeus took for their guide, 

 which was not improved by the former or confessed 

 by the latter. It has been customary for writers to 

 represent Willughby more as a wealthy and in- 

 telligent amateur than as an original thinker; as 

 the disciple and pupil of Ray in zoological pursuits 

 rather than as his master and instructor. How far 



