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LIFE OF ALBANY HANCOCK, BY DE. EMBLETON. 



were known. In these and similar pursuits his powers of minute 

 and accurate observation and correct description appear to have 

 been successfully cultivated, and his talent for delineation by the 

 pencil and the brush fully exercised. 



In 1843, Alder and Hancock published, in the Annals of 

 Natural History, " Observations on the Development of the Nu- 

 dibranchiate Mollusks, with Remarks on their Structure." 



About the time of the publication of this paper a change oc- 

 curred in the direction of Albany's thoughts and studies, which 

 influenced the whole of his future scientific career, and by deter- 

 mining for him a fixed Hue of investigation, conduced to make 

 him so distinguished an anatomist in Malacology, that his views 

 were afterwards justly regarded as of the highest authority in 

 this department of science, and the most difficult points were 

 at times submitted for his decision. The cause of this change it 

 may not be uninteresting to Naturalists to relate. He had be- 

 come convinced that valuable for classification as are the external 

 characters and the habits of animals, when carefully observed, 

 it is absolutely necessary to investigate and understand their 

 internal structure also, in order to form a correct idea of their 

 physiology, and of their proper arrangement according to their 

 natural affinities. 



In 1843 appeared an elaborate paper by M. de Quatrefages, 

 afterwards a celebrated French Naturalist, in the Annales des 

 Sciences Naturelles, Yol. XIX., entitled "Memoire sur l'Eolidine 

 Paradoxale." In order to estimate duly the value of the work 

 detailed in this memoir, it became necessary that the anatomy 

 of the mollusk concerned should be investigated, and as I was at 

 that time Lecturer on Anatomy and Physiology in the Newcastle 

 School of Medicine, and was acquainted with Mr. Hancock's de- 

 sires and difficulties, he requested me to join him in the inves- 

 tigation. 



A few observations had already been made by Messrs. Alder 

 and Hancock, and the latter had, with his usual acumen, de- 

 tected some errors in the description of M. de Quatrefages.* 



* See " Remarks on the Genus Eolidina, Quatrefages," in the Ann. and Mag. of Nat, 

 Hist., XIV., 1844. 



