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On a South American species of (Estrus which in- 

 hah) Is the human body. Read November 26, 1822. 

 By Thomas Say, 



Many of the objects of natural history described by 

 Linne, arc at present, entirely unknown, notwith- 

 standing the laborious and ardent researches that 

 have been made, by a multitude of observers, since 

 the time of the great reformer. This may be in part 

 attributed to the great rarity of some of those objects, 

 but it may be supposed to be more particularly due 

 to his habitual manner of attempting to concentrate 

 all the characters of a being, in the comprehensive 

 significancy of a few words. This excessive con- 

 ciseness, appears to have been intended to check or 

 discountenance a continuation of the habit of volu- 

 minous description, so freely used by his predecessors; 

 but with due deference to his vast and deserved re- 

 putation, be it said, that, in the attempt to introduce 

 a necessary reformation in this respect, that great 

 naturalist passed to the opposite extreme. 



In common with the greater number of naturalists 

 of tne present day, I have very often felt the incon- 

 venience of this imaginaryjimprovement and real de- 

 triment in zoology, and heartily wish that brevity may 

 be sacrificed to accuracy, as I am convinced that 

 however desirable every describer may, and, indeed, 

 ought to be, to represent the object before him in as 

 few words as posssible, he should, nevertheless, not 

 hesitate to avail himself of as many expletives as 

 will in all probability obviously distinguish his object 



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