HISTORY OF ZOOPHYTOLOGY. 
13 
acid, which carrying them along with it into the fissures at least, 
if not into the solid substance of such stones or slates, there de- 
termines them to shoot into these elegant branchings ; after the 
same manner, and frequently in the same figures, as the par- 
ticles of mercury, copper, &c. are disposed and brought together 
by the salts in aqua fortis.”* 
But the progress of truth, although it may be delayed by op- 
position, cannot be permanently arrested. The converts to the 
new r doctrines were indeed few, but much had been done to fa- 
cilitate their future reception, for the slumber of prejudice had 
been broken, the hold of the ancient opinions on the affections 
had been loosened, and men no longer startled into scepticism 
when they heard of animals that in their productions mimicked 
the most beautiful and delicate vegetable forms, f The mind 
of naturalists was thus in some measure prepared for the change 
on the very eve of being effected by the labours and assiduity 
of a member of that very society which had lately listened, with 
apparent approbation, to the reveries of Dr Parsons. 
John Ellis — the name of the individual alluded to — was a 
merchant in London, who devoted his leisure to the study of 
natural history, in which he attained so considerable knowledge 
as to gain easy access to the Royal Society, and the acquain- 
tance and correspondence of the most celebrated naturalists of 
his time. He seems to have attached himself more particular- 
ly to the economical department of botany, and seized every 
opportunity to introduce foreign plants to our gardens, especial- 
ly such as were remarkable from furnishing any material em- 
ployed in the arts and manufactures ; and he was equally solici- 
tous to acquire and diffuse accurate information relative to any 
natural productions which might be rendered subservient to 
the necessities or comforts of mankind. He was fond also of 
amusing himself in making imitations of landscapes by the cu- 
rious and skilful disposition of delicate sea-weed and corallines 
* Employment for the Microscope, p. 218-20. Lond. 1753. 
f “ For it is not because an”opinion is true, that others will therefore adopt it. 
It must at the same time be congruous with our other impressions, and admit 
of being dovetailed into them, or it will be rejected, for it is judged of by its 
conformity to the previous acquisitions, and is disliked and condemned if incom- 
patible with them,” — Turner, Sac. Hist, of the World, Vol. ii. p. 19. 
