MEMOIR OF GESNER. 43 



subject, they cannot be regarded as otherwise than 

 ludicrous. Animals are referred to diiBferent orders 

 according to the accident of their being domesti- 

 cated or wild ; and size is assumed as determining 

 ordinal differences. Thus the lion and tiger are 

 placed in one order, while their near relatives the 

 panther and other smaller spotted felines, are re- 

 ferred to another, magnitudinis ratione, as he him- 

 self expresses it. Perhaps his division of fishes is 

 preferable; but after having afforded one example 

 of this kind, it is unnecessary to dwell on the 

 subject. 



His description and history of the animals them- 

 selves cannot in general be spoken of otherwise than 

 in terms of high commendation, particularly of those 

 kinds w^hich fell under his own observation, the ani- 

 mals of Switzerland, for example. We have at full 

 length all that has been previously written respect- 

 ing them, combined with much original information. 

 Take the general history of hawks for an example, 

 in the commencement of his volume on birds. With- 

 out attempting to discriminate many of the closely 

 allied kinds, — an object which can scarcely be said 

 to be satisfactorily accomplished even in the present 

 day, — he enters into the generalities of the family 

 with considerable knowledge of their habits and 

 general history ; giving instructions for rearing them 

 and training them for the chace, for curing their 

 disorders, &c. All this, it is true, is mixed up with 

 a great deal of quaint information and obsolete 

 erudition; but when these are subtracted, not a 



