Notice of British Naturalists, 219 



In the sixteenth century appeared — with the revival of learn- 

 ing in England, Lister, Willoughby, and Ray ; Belon in Mans ; 

 •Rondelet in France ; Saleciani in Rome ; Gesner in Germany, 

 Aldrovandns in Bologna, and others, producing among them im- 

 portant works on the leading branches of natural history. 



The end of the sixteenth, and the beginning of the seven- 

 teenth centuries, were signalized by rapid advances in know- 

 ledge. The art of printing, now come into general use, and the 

 reformation, now fully established, — the former by extending and 

 making more common all kinds of knowledge, the latter by free- 

 ing the minds of men from that thralldom in which they had so 

 long been held, — prepared, if they did not force the way, for a 

 vigorous and successful emancipation of the human mind. Men, 

 remarkable for the freshness and grasp of their intellect, arose, 

 both on the continent, and in England ; and not afraid of the 

 name of reform, they carefully scrutinized all the information 

 and theories which they had received from their fathers, and 

 boldly cast aside all which they did not find to be true. 



Our present improvement and progress in science we owe pri- 

 marily to England. It was there, about 1600, that Lord Bacon 

 the father of natural science, arose. To that country, and to 

 that master-mind, we are indebted for the logical precision which 

 alone could direct our steps in the search after truth : and it is 

 this period which we must mark as the new era in natural science. 

 As the rising sun dispels the mists and fogs of the morning, so 

 did the brightness of his exalted mind illuminate the darkness 

 around. 



The object of this paper is to give a sketch of the progress of 

 natural history — limiting it, for the present, chiefly to the higher 

 orders of Zoology in Great Britain. We shall, therefore, now 



mer's Fmdera : " The Fish-call, or a looking-glass for fishes in the sea, very 

 useful for fishermen to call all kinds of fish to their nets, seins, or hooks." " An 

 instrument which may be called the Windviate, very profitable, when com- 

 mon winds fail, for a more speedy passage of calmed ships and vessels on seas 

 and rivers." " A moveable Hijdrmdic, or chamber weathercall, like a cabinet, 

 which being placed in a room, or by a bed side, causeth sweet sleep to those who, 

 either by hot fevers, or otherwise, cannot take rest ; and it withal alters the dry, 

 hot air, into a more moistening and cooling temper, either by musical sounds, or 

 otherwise." These patents were for fourteen years, and paid £1 Qs. 8d., yearly 

 to the Exchequer. — See Life and Adminis. of Edward, first Earl of Clarendon, by 

 H. T. Lister, Vol. I, p. 23, note. 



