MEMOIR OF GESNER. 57 



De omiii rerum fossilium genere, gemmis, lapidibus, 

 metallis et hiijusmodi," (Zurich, 1565), a publica- 

 tion which excited great attention at the time, and 

 contains much curious information, as well as many 

 illustrative engravings of a no less curious character, 

 we shall have noticed the most important of Ges- 

 ner's contributions to the general stock of know- 

 ledge. An entire list of everything he wrote may 

 be collected from Schmiedel's life, the additions of 

 Tussier to the eloges of M. de Thou, and his own 

 letter to VV'^illiam Turner. 



Every one who has written of Gesner has ex- 

 pressed surprise that he should have been able to 

 accomplish so much; and when we consider the 

 difficulties he had to encounter in his youth, the 

 laborious duties of his profession at a subsequent 

 period, his frequent illnesses, and his early death, it 

 is impossible to regard the results of his labours in 

 any other light. His devotion to literature and 

 natural science must have been intense ; his appli- 

 cation unceasing; the facility and fertility of his 

 genius such as are rarely met with. With much 

 that is crude, obsolete, and useless, the necessary 

 consequence of the period and circumstances under 

 which he wrote, his publications must be regarded 

 as of great merit, displaying a wonderful accumula- 

 tion of knowledge derived from previous writers, 

 with an important accession resulting from his own 

 observation and original power of thought. Whether 

 we consider them as a repertory of the existing 

 knowledge of the times, or in reference to the light 



