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THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the advent of steam-power, much more was found to interest a 

 naturalist on board a sailing-vessel — with the greater expanse of 

 ocean covered by her erratic wind-dependent course, and the 

 opportunities afforded by calms — than is experienced nowadays 

 on the straight high roads of the ever-speeding liners; and those 

 of us who have made an early voyage under sail can well realize 

 the altered conditions which so greatly limit the observations of 

 a travelling zoologist. A curious proposition was enunciated by 

 Commerson in relation to the shoals of Scomber which followed 

 his vessel : " The surface of the sea, exposed to the glare and 

 fierce heat of the tropical sun, becomes disagreeable to them, so 

 they seek the neighbourhood of a high coast-line, where, under 

 lofty rocks and promontories, they can play and gambol in full 

 shelter." This suggested the shelter they find on the shady 

 side of vessels, and may thus account for much of their presence 

 in some latitudes. 



The results of Commerson's collecting on this voyage were 

 prodigious ; the work he loved gave him no rest, wore him out, 

 and practically caused his early death. His achievements in 

 botany are well known to all followers of that science, and in 

 that he excelled. As regards his other discoveries, we may use 

 the valuation of Mr. Scott Elliot As a geologist, the value 

 of his mineralogical specimens and his account of the Bourbon 

 volcanoes have been justly acknowledged by Bory de Saint- 

 Vincent. M. Dumeril discovered his collections and drawings 

 of fishes still unpacked in an attic of Buffon's house. These 

 form a very large and valuable proportion of Lacepede's ' His- 

 toire Naturelle ' (published in 1801). His manuscripts on the 

 mammalia of Madagascar and the Mascarenes were unearthed 

 in the library of M. Hermans at Strasbourg, and freely used by 

 Cuvier, who also generously acknowledges his indebtedness." 



Commerson was reared in a country and in an age when 

 dreams of a noble savage and the freedom and moral excellence 

 of primitive races were being freely propagated. His estimate 

 of his " dear Tahitians" and his argument as to " What con- 

 stitutes robbery ? " may probably meet the views of some extreme 

 thinkers of to-day. He was a born naturalist and a self-made 

 martyr to natural science ; his economical views would have 

 gained the approval of Rousseau, but his great contributions to 



