12 ACALEPIIS IN GENERAL. " Part 1. 



of the age. Tliev are full of discussions ujioii the animals known to the ancients, 

 mixed uj) with a few original ohservations, showing ])lainly the infinence exercised Ijy 

 the revival of letters even upon the cultivators of science. 



The natm-alists of the second half of the seventeenth century gradually turn their 

 attention moi'e exclusively t(j nature, and are less engrossed hy mere questions of 

 erudition. This salutary change is no doulit owing to the influence of the discovery 

 of America, and the progress of navigation arountl the ('a[)e of Good Hope and hi 

 Asia, upon the study of Natural History. The animals and plants 1n-ought Ixick to 

 Europe Ijy traveller.s, and still more the observations juddished hy physicians and 

 naturalists who explored the new world, must early have impressed on every one the 

 conviction, that the ju'oductions of these countries could not lie illustrated by refer- 

 ences to the writers of jtast ages. No expedition contriljuted more powerfully to 

 strengthen this impression, and to extend the range of human knowdedge respecting 

 the animals and itlants of foreign lands, than that of Coinit Maurice of Nassau to the 

 Brazils. The Avork of Marcgrave,' Avho was naturalist to that expedition, I'emained 

 until the beginning of this century the piincipal source of information respecting 

 the animals of South America; but it contains nothing relating to Acalephs. Du- 

 tertre " and Martens'^ have oidy a few remai'ks about them, wdiile Boccone's'* 

 investigations relate chieih* to the Corals. At home, liotli naturalists and zoologists, 

 as well as philosophers generally, apply themselves with increased zeal to the 

 investigation of minute ol)jects and al)struse questions requiring improved methods 

 of study; and, of course, the advance made in one liiauch leads to new researches 

 in other branches, so that it may well lie said, that there never was a time when 

 the aspirations of men for knowledge Avere higher and more intense than during 

 this jieriod. This intellectual movement naturally gave liirth to the scientific 

 academies ibumled Avith a special view to the promotion of experimental researches. 

 The principal of these academies Avere, that of the Lyucei in Eome, the Philosophical 

 Society in fjondon, the Acadenna Naturae Curiosorum in (Jermany, and the Academie 

 des Sciences in Paris. 



1616, 4t(i. — ScM.i.A (A(iOST.), La vaiKi s]iccLil;iti(iiic Bra>ili;>' Liliri YIIT., a .Toll, ili' Lait in ordinom 



desingarala (li'l scnsii, Nai)oli, lI'.Td. -ltd. li.--. Tlioiiuh digcsti, ].nj;(liini-r.atavoruui, 1G4S, iul. lij.-. 



many of the works (|ii(>tc(l arc insit;iiilic"iiil for llii/ - DiTi.i; ri;i; (.1. Hapt.), Tlistiiirc Ljrnei'alr ties 



study of Acalephs, llicii- valiir is \cry,^ival in oilier Aiililles, elc., Taris, l(j.3G-l(;71, 1 vols. tto. 



respects. Seilla, for inslan<'e. oiiens tlial series of ''' INIaim F.Ns ( Fi;.), S|iilzbei'gi.--c]ie nnd tlronliiii- 



inve.stigations npon fossil remains which has made disclie I{eise-l!eselireiliiing, im .Talir 1071, llani- 



Palaiontology a distinct science. The worUs of C'hi- hiirg. 1 G7."i, 4lo. fig. 



sius, Matthioli, and Civsalijinns, are essentially holan- ' lIciCcoxE (P. SiLV.). IJecherclies et oliser- 



ical, and tliat of Salviani is entirely ichlhy(]louical. vatiims <riiistoire nalurelle tonchant le Corail, et<'.. 



1 1Maiic<j1!AA'K (G.), Ilisturia- Kernm >;atnralium Paris, l('.7(l, 12nio. tig. 



