20 
STATE OF ZOOLOGY 
great philosophical work on the whole of natural history, in 
which he has developed new and lofty theories, which, if to 
some they appear rather extravagant, are admitted by all to 
be most ingenious. There are none of us who do not regret 
the absence of a man to whom literature and science are so 
much indebted. Zurich may also boast of having given birth 
to that unwearied compiler. Professor Schinz, who has this 
year published a work on the Vertehrata of Europe, not in- 
deed very well digested, and void of criticism, yet very useful, 
as containing every species, though they may be derived from 
books rather than from nature. 
HOLLAND. 
The natural sciences flourish at present in Holland more than 
ever. This is shown by numerous publications, written, for 
the most part, in a language which is scarcely or not at all 
familiar to the generality ; and by the prizes offered for the 
solution of certain questions, a specimen of which you have in 
the programme, which I now lay before you, of the Society of 
Science at Haerlem, a society to which I am proud to belong, 
and to be its representative on tliis occasion. The last volume of 
the Transactions of this Society, just now published, contains, 
among other papers, two, which, though foreign to Zoology, 
are of such importance, that I will here mention them, in order 
to make them known in Italy. One is by Herr Keitzing of 
Nordhausen, in Prussia, on the Metamorphoses of certain 
and their development into plants of a higher organization ; the 
other is by the celebrated Martins of Erlang, on the Fecunda- 
tion of Vegetables. The richness of the museums of Holland 
has become proverbial, but they are all eclipsed by the national 
collection at Leyden, which, under the direction of a Tem- 
minck, aided by a Schlegel, a De Hahn, and a Reinwardt, has 
acquired ^ lustre, which equals, and even surpasses the most 
celebrated ones hitherto formed. Wonderful, above all, is the 
collection of skeletons, which is such, that no one can hence- 
forth adequately treat of Zoosteology, without first having 
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