382 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



All is written in Goldsmith's vivacious style, and the first 

 two volumes are to a certain extent excellent in subject matter, 

 for he was able to make use of Buffon as far as the end of the 

 history of quadrupeds. But in justice to Goldsmith, it must be 

 said that he had this help where he least wanted it, as, in 

 dealing with the earth, with man, and with the well-known wild 

 beasts, he had his own engaging descriptive powers, his own 

 knowledge of human nature and anatomy, and a multitude of 

 books, other than Buffon, fairly correct in their accounts of the 

 larger mammals. 



Consequently, Goldsmith can, " with some share of con- 

 fidence," recommend this part to the public, and also I would 

 suggest that his chapters on " Sleep and Hunger," and " Smell- 

 ing, Feeling, Tasting," are as entertaining as any in the book. 

 In his history of birds and insects he is very meagre and con- 

 fused, like Pliny. His account of the reptiles is, as one would 

 expect, full of those curious mythical tales, in which Goldsmith 

 revelled more than in scientific facts. In many places through- 

 out this unique Natural History one relishes the numerous per- 

 sonal references which he introduced into most of his writings, 

 and here and there some really fine prose, as fine as any he 

 ever penned. 



The naturalist will find amusement in assigning descriptions 

 to their right owners, and in discovering the names of species 

 but vaguely characterized. Then there is humour, which, 

 although unconscious, should not on that account be omitted 

 from among the merits of a book that are deserving of a wider 

 recognition. Of his personal references, I must not pass over 

 his touching remarks on "Hunger," which he wrote perhaps at 

 a time when he felt his own wants becoming more serious day 

 by day: — "In the beginning the desire for food is dreadful 

 indeed, as we know by experience. . . . Those poor wretches, 

 whose every day may be said to be an happy release from 

 famine, are known at last to die in reality of a disorder caused 

 by hunger, but which in common language is often called a 

 broken heart." That death was his own, said Forster in his 

 ' Life.' He (Goldsmith) pities Aldrovandus, the naturalist, whose 

 undeserving end was poverty and death in a public hospital, but 

 how much the more should we lament his untimely decease. 



