108 



CONCHOLOGY. 



think the student's progress will be much facili- 

 tated ; he will advance, as it were, imperceptibly in 

 the study of this interesting pursuit, till he arrives at, 

 and is capable of understanding the subject in its 

 embodied form of a system. The imperfection of an 

 alphabetical arrangement in publications like the pre- 

 sent one will thus be partially obviaterd, and the tri- 

 butary information, in a great measure acquired prior 

 to its being consolidated into one mass. 



Systems were formed for masters, not for the 

 scholar ; for what student would have courage, in 

 the first instance, to wade through a ponderous 

 tome, each page teeming with unutterable terms, to 

 expound which would require the concentrated learn- 

 ing of a polyglot dictionary, and if ever puzzled out, 

 would, many of them (not to say most of them), be 

 found to have but little reference to the thing in ques- 

 tion to give no descriptive assistance, but to have 

 been coined from the author's caprice or particular view 

 of the object before him. Let us not, however, be 

 understood as finding fault with the necessary scien- 

 tific nomenclatures established by long usage : did 

 they not exist, it is obvious that the simplest object 

 Could not be explained without 'great circumlocution ; 

 neither can we object to their being expressed in the 

 most universal language known the Latin tongue, 

 since a knowledge of that opens the high road of 

 mental communication with all the civilised nations of 

 the world, enabling scientific men to converse and 

 interchange their ideas or opinions, though living dis- 

 tant as the poles asunder. But we do seriously depre- 

 cate the affectation some authors exhibit of display- 

 ing unnecessary erudition in their nomenclature of 

 applying profound learning to trifling objects, and, 

 what is worse than all, of giving names and terms that 

 have no reference whatever to the subject matter ; 

 this needlessly embarrasses the student, by leading 

 him far out of his road, and a name which should 

 assist him like a sign-post on his way, pointing out 

 the shortest path to some other place of inquiry, be- 

 comes his greatest impediment of no use whatever, 

 if not understood, and if comprehended, is perhaps not 

 at all explanatory of the subject. An opposite species 

 of affectation has been recommended by some modern 

 writers in this country, that of anglicising all terms of 

 science. But it is quite impossible so to simplify sci- 

 entific study, as to do without a generally-received 

 nomenclature in some language or other, and, as we 

 have just observed, the Latin, from its universality, is 

 the best of all others ; but let every newly-coined term 

 be strictly confined to its plainest expression, and its 

 meaning always explanatory of the object to which it 

 is applied : without this is attended to, it is " fighting 

 flies with spears." A system is a completion of the 

 whole subject, and can no more be properly under- 

 stood at first sight than a watch or any other compli- 

 cated piece of machinery depending upon its subordi- 

 nate parts for the production of one perfect result ; it 

 must be studied step by step, and the more easy the 

 path is rendered by removing difficulties, the more 

 inviting the progress will become. Cuvier observes, 

 " that the formation of systems is the object of natural 

 history, properly so called. Anatomy receives them 

 as it were reaxly made. The latter takes its first direc- 

 tion from the former, but it. is not slow in reflecting 

 back the light it has received. By applying a system 

 of natural history to comparative anatomy, we are 

 soeeilily enabled to discover whether it deviates from 

 the path of nature. The object of every good method 



is to reduce a science to its simplest terms, by reducing- 

 the propositions to the greatest degree of generality of 

 which they are susceptible. A good method must 

 therefore be such as will enable us to assign to each 

 class, and to each of its sub-divisions, some qualities 

 common to the greater portion of the organs. This 

 object is to be attained by two different means, which 

 may serve to prove or verify one another. The first, 

 and that to which all men will naturally have recourse, 

 is to proceed from the observation of species to unit- 

 ing them in genera, and to collecting them into a 

 superior order, according as we find ourselves con- 

 ducted to that classification, by an examination of 

 the whole of their attributes. The second, and that 

 which the greater part of modern naturalists have 

 employed, is to fix beforehand upon certain bases of 

 division, agreeably to which beings, when observed, 

 are arranged in their proper places. The first mode 

 cannot mislead us, but it is applicable only to those 

 beings of \vhich we have a perfect knowledge ; the 

 second is more generally practised, but it is subject to 

 error. When the bases that have been adopted 

 remain consistent with the combinations which obser- 

 vation discovers, and when the same foundations are 

 again pointed out by the results deduced from obser- 

 vation, the two means are then in unison, and we may 

 be certain that the method is good." 



Many whom we unhesitatingly call ignorant per- 

 sons, not knowing the benefit mankind has derived, 

 and must yet reap, from the study of natural objects, 

 overlook totally, or but lightly value the wearisome 

 preliminary steps the never-ceasing patient investi- 

 gation by which these advantages have been acquired, 

 this knowledge gained. Such persons have considered 

 Conchology particularly, as undeserving the rank of a 

 science, its study beneath the serious attention of a 

 highly-cultivated mind, and affording nothing beyond 

 the gratification attendant on the possession of pleas- 

 ing objects to the eye, or to that vanity which fre- 

 quently springs from the exhibition of an elegant and 

 costly taste, not attainable by our less fortunate 

 neighbour. To them let it be said, that the contem- 

 plation of objects created by Him whose beneficent 

 wisdom caused all these things to be ; of Him who 

 has formed nothing in vain ; of Him who in "six days 

 made the heaven and earth, the sea, and all that "in 

 them is," cannot either be useless or beneath the dig- 

 nity of the most enlightened man, the utmost extent 

 of whose education can only teach him how little he 

 can ever know of all that is yet to be learned. In 

 natural history especially, we are always to a great 

 extent dissatisfied with whatever we perform, for 

 nature proves to us at every step that she is inex- 

 haustible ; but this, nevertheless, augments our enjoy- 

 ment, as we proceed onward in our pleasing task as 

 each difficulty is surmounted, a new impulse is given to 

 our exertions, till we are ultimately rewarded by being 

 able to read the book of nature in its proper language. 

 Happily, the researches and writings of some few scien- 

 tific men have of late years given a zest to the study 

 of natural history never before experienced, by clothing 

 it in the simple language of truth, enabling us, while 

 cozily placed by our fire-sides, to wander in imagina- 

 tion through the scenes they so glowingly describe. 

 We live for a time in every country ; in every clime, 

 we seem to travel along with them in their sometimes 

 perilous journey, to share their dangers, and to parti- 

 cipate in the satisfaction of having surmounted them. 

 Who can read works like those of Audubon, Water- 



