ornithologist's text-book. 7 



the author, and the work will always be valuable 

 to the Ornithologist. 



Des OiseauxDomesiiques, par R. A. F. Reaumur. 

 2 vols. 12mo. 



An exceedingly interesting work on tame birds, 

 interspersed with anecdotes and experiments. 



Historic Avium Prodromus, by J. T. Klein. 

 4to. 1750. 



It is unnecessary to make particular mention of 

 the system of Klein, as it was adopted by very few, 

 nor is it by any means necessary for the Ornitholo- 

 gist to possess his Prodromus. And we may here 

 be allowed to remark on the absurd custom of 

 writing works on Natural History — or indeed any 

 other subject — in Latin. When written in this 

 " learned tongue" the contents of the works must 

 necessarily be sealed to all but a few " learned" 

 pedants. At the time when Klein wrote, however, 

 there may have been some excuse for this practice, 

 as only a very few then turned their attention to the 

 Natural Sciences, and these few were generally 

 supposed to have had the benefit of a " sound 

 classical education." But as this is no longer the 

 case, there cannot now be the same excuse as there 

 was formerly for writing works on Natural History 

 in Latin. The modern languages should of course 

 be taught at every school, and then we may look 

 forward to the time when Latin and Greek, if not 

 entirely abandoned, will at least no longer be con- 

 sidered indispensable to any classes of society, — 

 much less to the students of science. We will, 

 however, postpone this discussion to a future oc- 

 casion. — See Analyst, Vol. Ill, p. 46. 



