64 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



rested only upon the faith of drawings in the hands 

 of his friends. From these circumstances, numberless 

 errors inevitably resulted : and, with all our respect 

 for the venerable author, we are compelled to con- 

 firm the judgment already passed upon this work 

 by Cuvier.* Nevertheless it must be admitted that" 

 a large number of really new and most interesting 

 birds were now, for the first time, sufficiently well 

 described ; and that, at the period when they were 

 published, both the General Synopsis and the Index 

 Ornithologicus were useful and even valuable pub- 

 lications. They accomplished, "in their generation," 

 the object for which they were intended, — they 

 advanced science ; while their very imperfections 

 brought about that revolution in our mode of in- 

 vestigation, which has now rendered them of little 

 service. We should have wished, for the reputation 

 of the first writer whose works we studied, that the 

 History of Birds had never appeared; since it is 

 merely an enlargement of the Synopsis, presenting 

 us, in the year 1820, with the systematic views which 

 were prevalent in 1782 ; a system, in short, which, 

 having served its turn, is now only a matter of 

 history. We feel pained at being called upon to 

 criticise the works of authors who are now living, for 

 it will surprise ariost of our readers when they are 

 told that the amiable and venerable author of the 

 Synopsis is now enjoying a vigorous old age, having 

 outlived, if report speaks true, ninety-four winters. 

 Should these remarks ever meet his eye, we pray him 

 to pardon their freedom ; and we entreat him to re- 



* Regne Animal, vol. iv. p. 135. 



