430 Miscellanies. 



11. Important Work. — The work on Fossil Organic Remains, 

 by Professor August Goldfuss, M. D., of the Prussian Univ. of Bonn, 

 will be soon translated from the German, by Prof. Gerard Troost, 

 M. D., of the Univ. of Nashville, Tenn. ; to which he will add his 

 own Notes on the Organic Remains of Tennessee. 



A knowledge of fossil Organic Remains is indispensable to the 

 study of Geology. No country is richer in these remains than the 

 western part of the United States. I collected (says Prof. Troost) 

 large numbers of them during my geological excursions, but found 

 many difficulties in becoming acquainted with my acquisitions. The 

 zoological works in my possession did not afford me much assistance, 

 and I began to despair of surmounting these obstacles, when I be- 

 came acquainted with the work of Doctor Goldfuss. I read it with 

 delight. I found it an excellent guide, and with it many of rny for- 

 mer difficulties vanished. In my leisure moments I commenced a 

 translation of it, at first merely to assist such of the students of our 

 University as had a desire to become intimately acquainted with that 

 part of Natural History ; but being in correspondence with its learned 

 author, atd accomplished editor, Mr. Arntz, of Dusseldorf, these 

 gentlemen politely engaged ' to furnish me the original plates, and 

 thus enable me to publish an English translation, if a sufficient num- 

 ber of subscribers could be obtained. 



The Bulletin Universel of M. de Ferrusac,^ says, "The under- 

 taking of Dr. Goldfuss is certainly one of the most interesting con- 

 tributions that have lately been made to science. Placed at the head 

 of a rich cabinet, having at his disposal the collection of Mr. Hoen- 

 inghaus, a zealous and laborious naturalist, Dr. G. had it in his pow- 

 er to make us acquainted with the greatest part of the fossils of a 

 country celebrated for the abundance and interest of the Organic 

 Remains which are found in its formations. The plates and draw- 

 ings are certainly the best that have been produced in any country, 

 exact in the most minute details, without injuring the harmony of the 

 ensemble. 



Dr. G.'s figures are all original; not one is borrowed, except to 

 complete a defective specimen. The text, he says, will give only 

 explanations of the figures : he reserves the observations and devel- 

 opments which may interest Zoology and Geology for another time : 

 but the author has done more than he promises. 



The text follows the figures of each plate, which are arranged in 

 genera. The name of the genus is Ibllowed by a synonym, and by 

 a short characteristic phrase in German and Latin, and geological 

 and geographical notices are subjoined. The first part, which was 

 published in 1826, contains POLYPIFERS : the second partis 

 pronounced by the Bulletin to be the most magnificent work on Nat- 

 ural History that has ever made its appearance in lithography. 



* Paris, 1827 ; No. 12, page 399. 



