INTRODUCTION. 35 



greatest zoologist of his time, may, if we are dispos- 

 ed to mark an epoch by a single name, be selected 

 for that purpose. But even this celebrated writer has, 

 in his Regno Animal, merely presented a sketch, 

 leaving to others the task of completing the various 

 departments. They who think otherwise forget that 

 the generic and specific characters of the systema- 

 tist, necessarily condensed, are very inadequate to 

 convey any other than the most superficial know- 

 ledge of the diversified objects of nature. 



These, then, were the men who progressively 

 reared the structure of zoology. Aristotle was a 

 universal genius ; but with respect to natural his- 

 tory he is to be looked upon chiefly as a zoologist. 

 Pliny was a collector of every thing known in his 

 time, whether true or fabulous, that related to ani- 

 mals, minerals, and plants. Linnaeus arranged all 

 the objects of nature. He was perhaps greater as 

 a zoologist than as a botanist, although, in the latter 

 capacity, his labours have been more highly appre- 

 ciated, because there have been more cultivators of 

 the science of plants, of which the study requires 

 less laborious investigation, and to many persons is 

 more attractive. Lastly, Cuvier, an original genius, 

 an acute observer, and an accurate reasoner, profit- 

 ing by the accumulated knowledge of ages, remo- 

 delled the system of zoology, and, in his Regno Ani- 

 mal, arranged the series of animals according to 

 principles elicited from the investigation of their 

 structure and relations. 



The present volume includes the lives of the more 

 eminent zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnaeus. 

 Those who succeeded the latter will furnish ample 

 materials for another. 



