480 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



A Bibliography of Gilbert White, the Natural Historian and 

 Antiquarian of Selborne. By Edward A. Martin, F.G.S. 

 Koxburghe Press. 



The ; Natural History of Selborne' has passed beyond the 

 appreciation and love of naturalists and long since become an 

 English classic, read and to be read as long as our language 

 survives. Whilst science will be coexistent with humanity, few 

 scientific books are perused after a century, save by specialists 

 and the curious, for science is ever advancing, and her publica- 

 tions only describe the area to her new landmarks. Art and 

 literature produce more immortal productions : a great picture is 

 for all the time it can be preserved ; a noble tragedy or fine poem 

 receives the imprimatur of humanity ; while a few books are never 

 lost and seldom forgotten. Gilbert White, writing in an obscure 

 parsonage, on the simple annals of its surrounding animal life, 

 with no desire for fame, and little expectation of literary canoniza- 

 tion, has cast a spell over all readers and charmed every lover of 

 books. The interest in his writings is soon combined with a 

 regard for the author, and we seem to have a personal acquaintance 

 with White as we read him, as well as with the various animals 

 whose life-histories he did so much to unravel and described so 

 well. He was the Nestor of British zoological observers, and 

 incited the study of Natural History in every lover of nature who 

 had the aptitude and industry of observation combined with a 

 facility to record such observations. 



Zoology in a very important branch is thus open to all 

 classes, to the leisured squire as well as to the recreative 

 artizan, and an intimacy with the ' Natural History of Selborne ' 

 still inculcates the lesson, that in these Islands, as well as in the 

 more prolific Tropics, the cataloguing of a fauna is not the sole 

 end of the science. 



The book has gone through many editions, seventy-three 

 according to the investigations of Mr. Martin, commencing with 

 the original edition in 1789, when the author was sixty-nine years 

 of age,* and within four years of his death, and ending with 



* Bloch, the ichthyologist, had reached the age of fifty- six when he 

 commenced to write on ichthyological subjects* 





