248 History of Conchology. 



or not more than a wliorl and a-half ; and his theory, divested of 

 the mechanical phraseology in which some of its details are explain- 

 ed, remains essentially correct. Besides the establishing of this 

 discovery so important in scientific conchology, Reaumur enriched it 

 with much curious and interesting matter. His inquiry into the 

 mechanism by which the limpets fix themselves so firmly, and the 

 byssiferous bivalves spin their silken cables ; his accurate descrip- 

 tion of the structure of the shell of the Pinna ; and his experimen- 

 tal essay on the purple dye of the Buccinum, suggested to him by 

 the excellent paper on the same subject by Mr Cole of Bristol, are 

 favourable specimens of his talent for observation, and real addi- 

 tions to the stock of our knowledge, while they captivate us by the 

 elegant and copious style in which they are written, and by the 

 clearness of their details. 



These labours and discoveries, and the high character of their 

 authors, render the conclusion of the 16th, and the beginning of the 

 17th century, unquestionably the most interesting period in the 

 history of conchology. Ray, who discovered the peculiar hermaphro- 

 ditism of the snail, was the intimate friend of Lister, — Petiver and 

 Sloane, celebrated for their museums, had entered the field ere he 

 retired, — Balfour and Sibbald in Scotland were his contemporaries, 

 and the latter his correspondent, — Poupart and Mery, two French 

 anatomists of deserved celebrity, carried their researches in the 

 same direction, — and Swammerdam, Leewenhoeck, and Rumphius* 

 in Holland, — all these men were each in their way advancing con- 

 chology with a rapidity hitherto unexampled and not yet surpassed. 

 We are apt, dazzled by this galaxy, to fix our attention too exclu- 

 tjively on the anatomical and physiological branches of the science, 

 but let us not forget to note the benefit it received by the zeal of 

 collectors, who were now importing species in great numbers from 

 every quarter of the globe, and congregating them in museums 

 which became celebrated throughout Europe for their richness. In 

 England those of Petiver and Sloane surpassed all others ; the col- 

 lection of Sir Andrew Balfour of the University of Edinburgh was 

 considerable ;t but it was in Holland that the passion of forming 



. * Or rather Scheinvoet, a Dutch physician, who was the real author of Rum- 

 phius' Thesaurus. See D'Argenville's Conchyliog. p. 27. 



f Sibbald's Auctarium Muscei Balfouriani " does' not treat of Testacea ex- 

 clusively, but comprehends a variety of subjects, which were contained in the 

 collection of Sir Andrew Balfour, Knight, M. D. — a collection presented to the 

 University of Edinburgh, and considerably augmented by the intimate friend of 

 the donor, who described the whole in the work above-mentioned. Unfortu 



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