' Sueklers: 9217 
The Badger: its period of Gestation. 
Ir were much to be wished that some competent observer, who, like 
Gilbert White, should be totally uninfluenced by the desire to make a 
book, would devote his time and attention to the life-histories of our 
British sucklers. I scarcely know of any field of inquiry in which so 
rich a harvest of facts is to be reaped. As subjects for especial interest, 
I need only allude to three,—torpidity, food and period of gestation,— 
‘in order to show how little is known. We find it repeatedly asserted 
that the badger is a cleanly animal, emitting a disgusting odowr, living 
under ground, baited by dogs, and given to somnolency ; but we are 
left to conjecture whether the existence of these peculiarities has really 
been observed and confirmed; or whether, in our veneration for ances- 
tral lore, we have transferred them from book to book, without taking 
the trouble to ascertain if they are facts or fictions. 
These thoughts have often disturbed my peace of mind. I have 
repeatedly asked myself whether Natural History is to remain a science 
of book-making, or whether we are to elevate it to a science of obser- 
vation. Is it not possible to effect the latter? Does not the con- 
tinuous demand for new editions of the “ Selbourne” clearly demon- 
strate that the demand for fact is quite equal to the supply? Can the 
best of compilations on Natural History boast a like demand? Say, 
for instance, Bingley’s ‘Quadrupeds’ or Bell’s ‘ Quadrupeds.’ Both 
these have, in addition to the vast erudition they display, the immense 
advantage over White of admirable illustrations, yet we have no 
second, much less any fortieth or fiflieth, edition of these volumes. 
We naturalists complain bitterly of want of patronage; we form joint- 
stock companies for the purpose of bringing out our compilations ; and 
why? simply because we know they will not sell: so we appeal to the 
affluent to take pily on our incompetence, to gratify our self-esteem. 
No man would beg a joint-stock company to publish his book if he had 
any faith in there being a remunerative sale for it. It is the real experi- 
mental knowledge that these heavy compilations are invariably still- 
born that compels a man to sue dx formdé pauperis. He grows old 
and wears out in his search for a patriolic publisher, who will take the 
risk, and in sheer despair offers his compilation to a joint-stock com- 
pany, the result of whose patronage will, after all, be to bury his 
labours in oblivion, for against the public, the real consumer of intel- 
lectual wares, the publications of a publishing company are her- 
Mmetically sealed. __ 
VOL. XXII. 22 
