440 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



t 



quadriipedis. In summitate Itumance faciei quid simile : Ex Aldobrandino 

 extractum. 2. Monstrat varias rerum formas partesque animalium, tarn 

 volucrium quara quadrupedum, quamvis valde imperfectas, quarum ra- 

 ti onem dedinxus in disquisitione physica. 3. Duarum avium imagines 

 monstrat, quas in Eeclesia S. G-eorgii Venetiis in marmore a natura ex- 

 pressas refert Ambrosinus. 4. Noctuse caput demonstrat, circumdatum 

 aliis avium rudimentis. 5. Motacillae, sive, ut alii volunt, Pavonis figuram 

 exprimit. 6. Monstrificae volucris figuram docet. 7. Merulse figuram 

 exprimit." 



It is necessary to add in this place the inscriptions inserted in 

 Kircher's plate under the figures, and for convenience' sake we give 

 the references to his own instead of our plate. 



Fig. 1. Ciconiae et Noctuse figurse. Pig. 2. Confusse rerum variarum 

 formse. Pig. 3. Yenetiis in templo S. Georgii. Pig. 4. Caput iNoctuee. 

 Pig. 5. Pigura Motacillse. Pig. 6. Animalis jubati. 



Tn Eitter we find a cross-reference to Seyfrid's ' Medulla Mira- 

 bilium Naturae,' p. 437 ; but on turning to the work,* we find in 

 the subjects treated there nothing relating to birds. The passage at 

 p. 437 runs, roughly translated, thus : — 



" In America, about Chili, there is on a mountain plenty of pre- 

 cious stones. In a cavern, the image of the Most Holy Virgin, with 

 her baby in her arms ; admired by all spectators." 



Turning over to p. 438, we read that at " half a mile from the con- 

 vent Michelfield is a quarry, where stones forming round plates, and 

 bowls, are so perfectly manufactured by nature, that the people never 

 want any china or earthen vessels for domestic purposes." 



In glancing over the pages, however, we come upon a passage at 

 page 458, of which the following is a translation : — " Even in Prance, 

 at Limans, a village or Provence about a league distant from Porcal- 

 quier, a city of good note, there hath been sometime found, in a cer- 

 tain mine of a kind of reddish soft stone, a great number of these 

 Gamalies, or painted figures, of birds, mice, trees, serpents, and 

 letters, so exactly shaped that little children could tell what they 

 were. — Qaffarellus" 



The work of Gaffarell,. from which this extract is made by Seyfrid, 

 bears the title of — " Cvriositez inovyes svr la Scvlptvre Talismaniqve 

 des Persaus. Horoscope des Patriarchies, et Lectvre des Estoilles," 

 and was published in 1637. f There was an English translation by 

 Edmund Chilmead, Master of Arts, and Chaplaine of Christ Church, 

 Oxon, printed at London in 1650. The passage in which, at p. 104, 

 is given above as the translation. 



* " Medulla Mirabilium Nahme. Das ist : Auserlesene, ivnter den "Wundern der Natur, 

 aller veruunderlichste Wttnder, von Erschaffung der jNalur, Himmlischen Firmaments, 

 Sternen, Planeten, und Cometen ; als auch dieser sichtbaren TVelt, und des Mcers. 

 Dessgleichen, in Bruunen, Fliissen, Seen, und dem Meer ; Auf, An, und in Gebiirgen, 

 Erden, uiid Insulen ; "Wie aucb, etzlichen Thieren, Baumen, Fruchten und Gewacluen. 

 In Europa, Asi.n, Africa und America. Aus hicrnachst benaiulten Autoren zusanuncn 

 getragen uud beschrieben ; sammt bcygcfugteu Kupffern. Durch Johann Heinrich 

 Seyfrid, Marco Brettano Fraucum ; Hocli-Fiirstl. Durchl. zu Pfaltz-Sultzbach Hof- 

 Bcdienten. Sultzbacli. In Vcrlegung Johaun Hofmanns, Kunst- uud Bucb -Handlers 

 in Niirnberg. Druckts Abraham Lichtenthalcr, 1G?9." 



t Tbe extract is from page 78 of the French, and page 101 of the English edition. 



