352 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 

The Early Naturalists ; their Lives and Work (1580-1789). 
By L. C. Miaun, D.Se., F.R.S. Macmillan & Co. Lim. 
Tuts work of Prof. Miall is an undertaking which must have 
been beset with two primary difficulties, viz. when to begin, and 
whom to include. The first sentence of the introduction is 
evidence of the former supposition: ‘‘ The beginnings of natural 
history are wholly unknown to us.” In the preface we read: 
‘Tl cannot pretend, however, to have been altogether consistent 
and impartial in my selection,’ a witness to our second pro- 
position, so that perhaps ‘‘ Karly Naturalists” might have proved 
a happier title. The biographical studies commence with Otto 
Brunfels, botanist (1484-1534), and terminate with Buffon (1707- 
1788). There is a postscript, ‘‘1789 and later,” but the real 
work terminates with the consideration of the great French 
naturalist and philosopher. And here we cannot refrain from 
quoting some interesting coincidences and successions given by 
Prof. Miall: ‘‘ Linneus and Buffon were born within four months 
of each other (1707); Linneus, Bernard de Jussieu, Haller, 
Voltaire, and Rousseau died within eight months of each other 
(November, 1777-July, 1778).” 
Dr. Miall is a candid critic, especially when writing of 
Linneus, with whose work he seems somewhat out of sympathy. 
Thus we read: ‘‘Linneus was deficient in the patience and 
candour necessary for the profitable discussion of deep questions 
of biology. He was, for example, utterly unable to deal with the 
sreat unformulated question of the nature of affinity.” But, as 
we previously were told, ‘‘some disapprobation was caused by 
the place assigned to Man in the Systema Nature, where he is 
included in the same order with the Apes, and in the same genus 
with the Orang,” we think Linneus must have been not alto- 
gether averse to candour, nor outside the consideration of 
affinities. However, differences of view must always pertain to 
naturalists who approach the consideration of other’s work from 
the standpoint of their own particular studies, and this seems 
unavoidable; but Prof. Miall has given us a book of biographical 
