TESTACEOUS FISHES. 



681 



the body. They found that the shells which 

 were taken from the earth, exhibited the usual 

 defects and mischances, which the same kind 

 are known to receive at sea. They showed 

 thorn not only tinctured with a salt-water 

 crust, but pierced in a peculiar manner by the 

 sea worms, that make the shells of fishes their 

 favourite food. These demonstrations were 

 sufficient at last to convince all but a few 

 philosophers who died away, and whose erro- 

 neous systems died with them. 



Every shell, therefore, wherever it is found, 

 is now considered as the spoil of some animal, 

 that oce found shelter therein. It matters 

 not by what unaccountable means they may 

 have wandered from the sea ; but they exhibit 

 all, and the most certain marks of their origin. 

 From their numbers and situation, we are led 

 to conjecture, that the sea reached the places 

 where they are found ; and from their varie- 

 ties, we learn how little we know of all the 

 sea contains at present ; as the earth furnishes 

 many kinds which our most exact and indus- 

 trious shell-collectors have not been able to 

 fish up from the deep. It is most probable 

 that thousands of different forms still remain 

 at the bottom unknown ; so that we may 

 justly say with the philosopher: Ea quce sci- 

 mus sunt pars minima eorum quce ignora- 

 mus. 



It is well, however, for mankind, that the 

 defect of our knowledge on this subject is, of 

 all parts of learning, that which may be most 

 easily dispensed with. An increase in the 

 number of shells, would throw but very few 

 lights upon the history of the animals that 



inhabit them. For such information we are 

 obliged to those men who contemplated some- 

 thing more than the outside of the objects before 

 them. To ReaumSr we are obliged for ex- 

 amining the manners of some with accuracy ; 

 but to Swammerdam for more. In fact, this 

 Dutchman has lent attention to those animals, 

 that almost exceed credibility : he has ex- 

 celled even the insects he dissected, in patience, 

 industry, and perseverance. It was in vain 

 that this poor man's father dissuaded him 

 from what the world considered as a barren 

 pursuit ; it was in vain that an habitual disor- 

 der, brought on by his application, interrupted 

 his efforts; it was in vain that mankind treat- 

 ed him with ridicule while living, as they suf- 

 fered his works to remain long imprinted and 

 neglected when dead ; still the Dutch philo 

 sopher went on, peeping into unwholesome 

 ditches, wading through fens, dissecting spi- 

 ders, and enumerating the blood-vessels of a 

 snail : like the bee, whose heart he could not 

 only distinguish, but dissect, he seemed in- 

 stinctively impelled by his ruling passion, 

 although he found nothing but ingratitude from 

 man, and though his industry was apparently 

 becoming fatal to himself. From him I will 

 take some of the leading features in the history 

 of those animal? which breed in shells; pre- 

 viously taking my division from Aristotle, who, 

 as was said above, divides them into three 

 classes; the Turbinated, or those of the Snail 

 kind ; the Bivalved, or those of the Oyster 

 kind ; and the Multivalved, or those of the 

 Acorn-shell kind. Of each I will (real in dis- 

 tinct chapters. 



CHAPTER CLIV. 



i 



OF TURBINATED SHELL-FISH OF THE SNAIL KIND. 



TO conceive the manner in which those 

 animals subsist that are hid from us at the bot- 

 tom of the deep, we must again have recourse 

 to one of a similar nature and formation, that 

 we know. The history of the garden-snail 

 has been more copiously considered than that 

 of the elephant ; and its anatomy is as well, 

 if not better known : however, not to give 



any one object more room in the general pic- 

 ture of nature than it is entitled to, it will be 

 sufficient to observe, that the snail is surpri- 

 singly fitted for the life it is formed to lead. 

 It is furnished with the organs of life in a 

 manner almost as complete as the largest ani- 

 mal ; with a tongue, brain, salival ducts, 

 glands, nerves, stomach, and intestines; liver, 



