89 



MANTELL, GIDEON ALGERNON. 



MANUEL, NICLAUS. 





Society, on the 13th of February 1853, on which the present article 

 is founded. 



Out of the Wealden, Mr. Hopkins states, Dr. Mantel! " procured 

 the most interesting of the relics of prodigious extinct reptile?, which 

 owe to him their scientific appellations, and whose remains will long 

 constitute some of the chief attractions of the great collection originally 

 amassed by him, and now displayed in the galleries of the British 

 Museum. Whether we regard his discovery and demonstration of the 

 lyuanodon and its colossal allies in a geological point of view, as 

 characterising distinctly an epoch in time, or, with respect to their 

 zoological value, as filling up great gaps in the series of Vertcbrata, and 

 elucidating the organisation of a lost order of reptiles, at once highest 

 in its class and most wonderful, we must, as geologists and naturalists, 

 feel that a large debt of gratitude is due to the indefatigable and 

 enthusiastic man out of whose labours this knowledge arose. In the 

 group of Dino?anrian reptiles were some of the largest of terrestrial 

 animals. In their organisation, whilst truly Reptilian, they approached 

 [by a direct relation of analogy] the Mammalian type. Their cha- 

 racters were so peculiar, that of the value and distinctness of their 

 order there can be no question. Their osteology has been elaborated 

 with skill and care, and has worthily occupied the attention of the 

 most eminent anatomists. They give a feature to the herpetology of 

 the middle portion of the secondary epoch. Now, of the five marked 

 genera constituting this group, as at present known, we owe the 

 discovery and demonstration of four viz , lyuanodon, Jilyl(to>auru, 

 Pelonsauriu, and Regnosaurus to Dr. Mantell. Worthily then were 

 the Wollaston Medal and Fund adjudged to our lamented colleague in 

 1835, ' for his long-continued labours in the comparative anatomy of 

 fossils, especially for the discovery of two genera of fossil reptiles, 

 Iguanodon and Hylteoaurut.' That he did not rest from his labours, 

 after having received this honourable reward, the discovery of two 

 additional genera mentioned above can testify. Nor did he cease from 

 continually seeking to perfect his knowledge of the wonderful animals 

 brought to light during his earlier career. Thus, whiUt the announce- 

 ment of the fyuanodon dates as far back as 1825, his account of the 

 jaw of this reptile was given to the world fifteen years afterwards. 

 His paper on Pelorotaurus, in the ' Philosophical Transactions,' was 

 published in 1850." 



Dr. Mantell was equally interested in all other branches of paleon- 

 tology. One of his earliest papers, communicated to the Linncan 

 Society, and published in its ' Transactions,' voL XL, related to the 

 bodies called by him and now well-known as Venlriculites, found in 

 the chalk, and referred by him to Alcyonia. On fossil Mollmca and 

 Radiata ho wrote many valuable papers, especially those that concern 

 the Bdtmnitet and their allies. Mr. Henry Deane of Clapham, after- 

 wards president of the Pharmaceutical Society, having detected the 

 soft bodies of Foraminifera (Rotal'ue) in an extraordinary state of 

 preservation in the chalk of Folkstone, and prepared illustrative speci- 

 mens of them for the microscope, called Dr. Mantell's attention to 

 them, who devoted much time to their investigation, and, uniting the 

 observations made by Mr. Deane and himself with the results of some 

 of his own previous researches, communicated a paper to the Koyal 

 Society on the general subject of the 'Fossil Remains of the soft parts 

 of Foraminifera, discovered in the chalk and flint of the b'outh-east of 

 England,' which was instrted in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 

 1846. Among his most recent labours was the account of the remarkable 

 reptile from the Old Red-sandstone, named by him Telerpeton Elginense, 

 an animal of singular interest, regarded, until very recently, as the 

 most ancient unquestionable relic of its class. At the time he died he 

 was occupied with a description of a very singular fish from the chalk, 

 to which he intended to give the name of Rynchonichthys. 



Dr. Mantell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1825, shortly 

 after his discovery of the Iguanodon, and in 1849 he received from 

 the Council the royal medal, as an acknowledgment of bis pakconto- 

 logical researches. He was also enrolled as a Fellow of the Royal 

 Society of Physicians, London, in recognition of his scientific eminence, 

 he nut having been originally connected with tho College. In 1835 

 he removed from Lewes to Brighton, and four years later, after 

 the purchase of his collection of fossils by the trustees of the British 

 Museum for 50001. to Clapham, near London. Some years having 

 elapsed, he disposed of his medical practice at that place, and removed 

 to Cheater-square, London, where he continued to reside and practise 

 for the remainder of his life. For many years he endured severe 

 illness and excruciating pain, owing to a spinal disease, the result of an 

 accident. But no torture oould destroy his love for science, or his 

 energetic pursuit of geological research. He died at his residence iu 

 Cheater-square on the 10th of November 1852, aged sixty -two. 



Dr. Mantell's scientific character has two distinct features, those of 

 n original discoverer, and of a public teacher. His influence iu 

 science depended less perhaps upon the former, brilliant as it was, 

 than upon the latter. As a popular expounder of geological facts he 

 was unequalled ; as a lecturer, within his own particular field, he had 

 no rival ; fluent, clear, eloquent, and elegantly discursive, he riveted the 

 attention of his audience, and invariably left them imbued with a love 

 for the science he had taught them. His popular writings, of which 

 the ' Wonders of Geology ' and the ' Medals of Creation ' are among the 

 more useful, had a wido circulation, and are held in high esteem by 

 general readers. Tli>y have a considerable reputation also on the 



Continent, and have been translated into German. The 'Medals of 

 Creation ' is almost the only book in the English language, in which a 

 comprehensive survey of the fossil world, and a perspicuous and satis- 

 factory outline of British palaeontology, both adapted to the educated 

 and general reader, can be met with. He was likewise the author of 

 several interesting views of the geological structure and physical geo- 

 graphy of Sussex and Surrey, or of portions of those counties, as well 

 as of the adjacent county of Kent (into which his favourite Wealden 

 also extends), which were inserted in topographical works, as intro- 

 ductory to the general history of the districts described. One of these 

 forms a portion of the prefatory matter in the ' County History of 

 Surrey,' by the late Edward Wedlake Bray ley, F.S.A. In the ' Biblio- 

 graphia Zoologiae et Geologise ' of Agassiz and Strickland, no fewer 

 than sixty-seven works and memoirs of various degrees of importance 

 and length, are enumerated as having proceeded from Dr. Mantell's 

 pen ; to these must be added some antiquarian papers, and several 

 professional disquisitions. 



MANTUA'NO, the common name of a family of artists of Mantua, 

 of the 16th century. The proper name appears to have been Ghisi, 

 but few particulars regarding the lives of its members are known. 



GIOVANSI BATTISTA, called Giovanni Mautuano, and also Bertano, 

 was painter, sculptor, engraver, and architect, and author of a com- 

 mentary on Vitruvius 'Gli oscuri e difficili Passi dell' Opera di 

 Vitruvio," fol., Mantua, 1558. He was the pupil of Giulio Romano, 

 executed many designs, some engravings, and a few paintings ; but his 

 chief business was architecture, and he built the church of Santa 

 Uarbara at Mantua. It is not known what relationship he bore to the 

 following artists. 



GIORGIO GHISI, called Giorgio Mantuano, was born at Mantua about 

 1520. He was painter and engraver, and was still living in 1578. 

 Bartsch describes seventy-one of his engravings, many of which arc 

 after the most celebrated works of the 16th century; they are well 

 drawn and executed with great mastery, much in the style of Marcau- 

 tonio. Among the most valuable are the Last Judgment, and the 

 Prophets and Sibyls, by Michel Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel ; and the 

 Dispute on the Sacrament and the School of Athens, after the frescoes 

 by Raffaele in the Vatican. 



Bartsch describes 129 prints by ADAMO GHISI, called also Mantuano; 

 and 46 by DIANA GIIISI, called Mantuana. Those of the former are 

 dated from 1566 to 1576, and those of Diana from 1575 to 1588. 

 Diana was the daughter of Giovanni Battista Mantuano, and was 

 married to Francesco da Volterra, architect; the date of her death is 

 not known. 



(Gaudcllini, ffotizie Ittoriche degV Intayliatori ; Bartsch, Peintre- 

 Oraveur ; Brulliot, Dictionnaire da Monoyrammes, ike.) 



MANUEL, FRANCISCO, one of the most eminent of the modern 

 poets of Portugal, was born at Lisbon in 1734. His first study was 

 music, but he afterwards devoted himself entirely to literature, and 

 more especially to poetry, his talent for which obtained him many 

 admirers, and also some enemies and persecutors. His enemies accused 

 him not only of entertaining exceedingly heretical opinions, but of 

 openly professing his contempt for the church, alleging against him his 

 arguments in favour of toleration, his free remarks on the monks, and, 

 not least of all, his translation of Molicre's 'Tartuffe.' Being summoned 

 to appear before the Inquisition, instead of obeying the mandate of the 

 Holy Office, he attacked and disarmed the agent sent to apprehend 

 him, and saved himself by immediate night to Paris in 1788 ; in which 

 city he resided till February 25, 1819, when he died at the age of 

 eighty-four. 



Though a zealous cultivator of the purest models of Portuguese 

 literature and poetry, Manuel was a no less ardent admirer of the 

 classics, whom he regarded rather as models to be invariably followed, 

 than as studies upon which a sound poetical taste is to be formed : 

 and to this predilection for the poets of antiquity is to be ascribed 

 his dislike to rhyme. Nevertheless his merits and excellences are 

 undeniable; and it has been said of him that no Portuguese poet or 

 writer since the time of Camoens did so much for the language, iu 

 which respect bis services were more valuable than those of a whole 

 academy. He excelled in'lyric and satiric poetry, and among his pro- 

 ductions of the former class his odes to D'Albuquerque and Washington 

 are deservedly admired for their sublimity and grandeur. Many of 

 his epistles, tales, and fables are also stamped by merit, though of a 

 different kind. The services which he further performed for Portuguese 

 literature were very considerable, for he produced admirable versions 

 of Wieland's 'Oberon,' 'Silius Italians, 1 Chateaubriand's 'Martyrs,' and 

 La Fontaine's ' Fables.' Like his original compositions, these transla- 

 tions are distinguished by purity of style, carried occasionally perhaps 

 rather too far, as his horror of Gallicisms and new-coined expressions 

 frequently led him to adopt obsolete words, thus producing au appear- 

 ance of pedantry and affectation. 



MANUEL, NICLAUS, or NICOLAS, sometimes called DEUTSCH, 

 who claims notice not only as au artist, but as a poet and author, and 

 one who took an active part iu the Reformation in Switzerland, was 

 born at Bern in 1484. His real name is conjectured by his biographer, 

 Dr. Griineisen, to have been Alleman, but as he was illegitimate, it 

 was, for family reasons, changed anagrammatically into that of Manuel. 

 It i further conjectured that he was brought up by his maternal 

 grandfather, T hurim; Frickart. Having made choice of painting as a 



