448 M^Murtrie^s Translation of the Regne Animal. 



version of a scientific work, extending to 2000 pages, deserves 

 to be well paid for his labour ; for knowledge of that various 

 kind, is procured by long application and much expense. 



The first duty of a translator is, to give the meaning of his author ; 

 and to do this, he must thoroughly understand the subject of which his 

 author treats. 



Let us see how Dr. M'Murtrie's translation conforms to this 

 rule. — Vol. 1. page 18, of preface to the first edition, we have, — 

 " In the mammaUa I have brought back the sohpedes to the 

 Pachydermata, and have divided the latter into families upon a 

 new plan ; the ruminantia I have placed after the quadrupeds, 

 and the sea cow near the cetacea." Here the camel, the deer, 

 the goat, the sheep, the ox, all these important ruminating ani- 

 mals being placed after the quadrupeds, of course are not in- 

 cluded in them. What is then to become of them — are they to 

 be considered as annihilated, by the readers of this translation ? 

 Cuvier says, " Dans la classe des mammiferes, j' ai ramene les soli- 

 pedes aux pachydermes; j'ai divise ceux-ci en families d'apres 

 de nouvelles vues ; j' ai rejete les ruminants a la fin des quadru- 

 pedes, j' ai place le lamantin pres des cetaces." Now previous 

 writers had placed the sea-cow, (manatus, or lamantin,) morse, 

 &.C. among the quadrupeds ; but as the sea-cow, &.c. although 

 warm-blooded animals, and chewing the cud, possess but two 

 extremities in the form of anterior fins, Cuvier very properly 

 separated them from the ruminating quadrupeds, and placed 

 them at the head of the whales, to form the first division, or the 

 cetacea herbivora. Dr. M'Murtrie would have spared some 

 confusion to the young student in zoology, if he had said, " I 

 have rejected the ruminants, which were at the end of the quad- 

 rupeds, and have approximated the sea-cow to the cetacea." 



At page 12, line 28, we have, "Vegetables derive their nou- 

 rishment from the su?i, and from the circumfluent atmosphere in 

 the form of water, &c." Cuvier says, " Xe sol et I'atmosphere 

 presentent aux vegetaux, pour leur nutrition, de 1' eau, &c." It 

 does not appear to have occurred to this naturalist, that the soil, 

 which is the obvious meaning of the word sol, has any thing to 

 do with the nourishment of plants. Griffith, in his translation 

 of this passage, makes precisely the same mistake. If it will be 

 any comfort to Dr. M'Murtrie, I can truly tell him, that my copy 

 of Griffith is scored with worse blunders than this : I will instance 



