COLLECTORS AND COLLECTIONS. 505 



the intimate friend of Lister,* — Petiver and Sloane, cele- 

 brated for their museums, had entered the field ere he 

 retired, — Balfour and Sibbald, in Scotland, were his con- 

 temporaries, and the latter his correspondent, — Poupart and 

 Mery, two French anatomists of deserved celebrity, carried 

 their researches in the same direction, — and Swammerdam, 

 Leewenhoeck, and Rumphius -j- in Holland, — all these men 

 were each in their way advancing conchology with a rapidity 

 hitherto unexampled and not yet surpassed. We are apt, 

 dazzled by this galaxy, to fix our attention too exclusively 

 on the anatomical and physiological branches of the science ; 

 but let us not forget to note the benefit it received by the 

 zeal of collectors, who were now importing species in great 

 numbers from every quarter of the globe, and congregat- 

 ing them in museums which became celebrated throughout 

 Europe for their richness. In England those of Petiver and 

 Sloane surpassed all others ; the collection of Sir Andrew 

 Balfour, of the University of Edinburgh, was considerable ;t 

 but it was in Holland that the passion of forming cabinets 

 of shells became most prevalent. " Rich individuals studied 

 to outvie one another in that country, as much in the expen- 

 siveness and extent of their collections, as in the splendour 

 of their equipages and retinue ; and the sums which were 



* " Eruditissimus vir et sagacissimus Naturse operum indagator D. Mar- 

 tinits Lister, M.D. vetus amicus nosier." — Raii, Hist. Plant, i. 65. 



t Or rather Scheinvoet, a Dutch physician, who was the real author of 

 Rumphius' Thesaurus. See D'Argenville's Conchyliog. p. 27. 



% Sibbald's Auctarium Musai Balfouriani " does not treat of Testacea 

 exclusively, but comprehends a variety of subjects, which were contained in 

 the collection of Sir Andrew Balfour, Knight, M.D. — a collection presented 

 to the University of Edinburgh, and considerably augmented by the intimate 

 friend of the donor, who described the whole in the work above-mentioned. 

 Unfortunately for the reputation of this University among naturalists, a very 

 small part of the collection is now remaining. ' Such,' says Mr. Pennant, 

 ' has been the negligence of past times, that scarce a specimen of the noble 

 collection deposited in it by Sir Andrew Balfour is to be met with, any more 

 than the great additions made to it by Sir Robert Sibbald.' — (Scotch Tour, 

 1760, p. 246.) Such is too often the fate of public collections ; and so 

 slight or so transient is any respect for the laudable intentions of generous 

 individuals towards public bodies, that common care is rarely taken to pre- 

 serve from destruction what escapes the hand of peculation and robbery." — 

 Lin. Trans, vii. 144. — The following Elogia on Balfour is probably from 

 the pen of Sibbald : — 



" Quce valles, montesque tenent, vitreoque profundum 

 Gurgite, quae gremio terra benigna tulit ; 

 Cuncta suo natura parens non invida mista 



Balfurio nosse, quae latuere, dedit ; 

 Quae propriis disgesta locis pulcheirima visu 

 Musfco cunctis conspicienda suo." 



Anukcta Scotica, Second Series, p. 153. 



