370 . List of Patents. 
“racters, -It is true-that the Tamils have now no faithful transcripts 
of their zoological works as they existed in olden times, but “enough 
remains scattered over their general literature, amongst dictionaries 
and essays, to shew what has been lost; and the carefuland laborious 
writer of this paper has done his best to collect and embody whatever 
is to be-met with amongst those miscellaneous works, a task for which 
the thanks. of the scientific world are due. "a 
It appears that the Tamils had a twofold system of animated na- 
ture, embracing the Mythological and the Natural. The former 
_ makes the “‘ Gods” a part of the zoological family: it divides all 
organized bodies into moveable and fixed, which are. again: subdi- 
vided into seven genera and many species. The natural portion of 
the system treated of, approaches nearly to that of Linnzus in many 
respects. All living beings are divided into four classes, and these 
again into numerous genera and species. ‘he first class compre- 
hends all which are viviparous, such as man, quadrupeds, the whale, 
the bat, the ray, &c. The second class embraces all which are owi- 
parous, viz., birds, fishes, the snake, the frog, the crocodile, &c. 
The third class takes in all those which are engendered by heat. and 
damp, as worms, maggots, gnats, &c. The fourth class comprises 
all which are germiniparous, such as trees and herbs. Quadrupeds 
are divided into classes by their habitat ;—such as dwell in hilly 
countries ; such as live in woodland country ; those which are found 
in cultivated fields; in sandy deserts; and those which are found in 
' the branches of trees. The birds are divided in like manner ; whilst 
fishes are merely classed as salt-water or fresh-water fish. Trees are 
_ divided by a system which depends on the texture of the bark and 
the wood, and again subdivided according to whether they bear fruit 
or not, to whether they bear fruit with or without blossom, ‘or: if 
they bear fruit once only and die— Sir W. C. Trevelyan. © 94+ 
“f 
iv hay of Patents granted for Scotland from 20th December 1849 
to 22d March 1850. 
1. To Epwarp Lyon Bertuon, of Fareham, in the county of South- 
ampton, clerk, master of arts, ‘‘ certain instruments for ascertaining 
and indicating the course or way, velocity, trim, and draught of ‘ships, 
and the rate of currents; also for discharging water from jships, and 
for taking altitudes and levels at sea and on land.’”—20th ,December 
1849. eon 
2. To James Situ, of Deanston, in the; county of Perth, presently 
