MEMOIR OP GESNER. 39 



cinales ; uiius de sanitate tuenda ; alter contra luxus 

 conviviorum; tertius contra notas astrologicas Ephe- 

 meridum in secandis venis ;" were printed at Zurich 

 in 1556. He was likewise the author, or editor, of 

 several other small works and treatises on subjects 

 similar to those mentioned, hut we cannot here 

 afford space for a full list of them. A little work, 

 " De lacte," treating of milk and its various pre- 

 parations, which appeared in 1543, may, from the 

 mode in which the subject is treated, be regarded as 

 a contribution to medical dietetics. 



We shall now proceed to give some account of 

 his principal works on Natural History, and shall 

 first mention his " Historia Animalium," for that 

 is the work with which Gesner's name is usually 

 associated, and on which his reputation principally 

 depends. It is certainly a singular mass of matter, 

 original and compiled, displaying a degree of erudi- 

 tion, research, and industry, which might well lead 

 us, as has been remarked, to believe, that instead of 

 being the work of a physician, who raised and 

 maintained himself by his practice, and who was 

 cut off in the midst of a most active and useful life, 

 it w^as the labour of a recluse, shut up for an age in 

 his study, and never diverted from his object by any 

 other cares. He had conceived the design of such 

 an undertaking at an early period of his life, but it 

 is not probable, when we consider his other avoca- 

 tions, that much of it was executed till a few years 

 before its appearance. The numerous friends in 

 various parts of Europe whom his reputation for 



