22 MEMOIR OF 



Aristotle's works being for a time unknown to them. 

 But a brighter day at last dawned. Dante and 

 Petrarch did much in the 1 4th century ; the Greeks, 

 driven from Constantinople in the 15th, carried the 

 works of classic ages along with them, printing was 

 invented, America and the Indies were discovered, 

 letters revived, and with them Natural History saw 

 before it a field of boundless extent. Ichthyology 

 was the first branch which revived under these 

 happy auspices ; and the first care of its cultivators 

 was to ascertain and understand what was known 

 upon the subject by the ancients. This task ac- 

 complished, the second great epoch, as already 

 hinted, arrived; the foundation of modern ichthy- 

 )logy was laid, and chiefly by the labours of men 

 whose works appeared very much at the same time, 

 Belon's in the year 1555, Rondolet's in 1554-5, 

 and Salviani's in 1554-8. From this statement, it 

 is manifest that these distinguished individuals must 

 have laboured very much independently of each 

 other, though they were cotemporaries ; and hence 

 each merits a separate consideration, and presents 

 a distinct claim to our respectful regard. 



HIPPOLITO SALVIANI was born in the year 1514, 

 in La Citta di Castello^ situated on the Tiber (the 

 ancient Tifernum Metaurense), twenty- seven miles 

 s. w. of Urbino, the capital of the Duchy of that 

 name. He was of noble descent*; and after hav- 

 ing finished his general education, he studied medi- 

 * See Biographic Universelle, sub. voce. 



