ON THE VALUE of plates and illustrations. 
293 
as well as those whose organs of fructification are minute or obscure, I presume 
he will allow us engravings of, and of course the minuter Testacea , zoophytes, 
and Infusoria; —so that the meshes of Mr. R.’s net will act the converse 
principle of the Spider’s web—stop only the large Flies, and tub the Whales ! 
Really, then, little remains to dispute about, for if Mr. R. admits the utility of 
plates in the smaller and more obscure tribes, where the principal difficulties 
occur, it must be a matter of trifling consequence, in examining a species with 
obvious characteristics, whether a student looks at a plate of it or not, if he 
examines, as no doubt he would, his specimens also. On the other hand, I con¬ 
sider it advantageous for a naturalist to be a competent judge of the merits or 
defects of plates, which he can never be if he makes it a point to neglect them— 
because while an accurate engraving is a treasure, an incorrect one is worse than 
nothing. As to any 44 abuse of prints in works of Natural History,"’ I ^can 
conceive none unless in the case of a very bad engraving—or where, as in an old 
black-letter folio 44 Hortus Sanitatis” now before me, imaginative animals, as the 
Basilisk, Griffin, and Salamander, are represented from fabulous relations, and a 
long-tailed, long-tongued, formidable-clawed 44 Leviathan” is figured from the 
mention of such a being in the Book of Job, combined with the fancy of the 
designer. 
I can readily conceive and understand that Mr. Rylands is only anxious that 
the young student shall obtain the habit of examining for himself 44 peculiarities of 
structure,” and not as a matter of course resort in all cases forthwith to plates. 
So far I admit the propriety of investigation to every inquirer; but when we 
consider the enormous waste of time imposed if every species is invariably to be 
determined only by the light of frequently very inadequate or ill-understood 
description, I cannot but think that the 44 calm philosophic pleasure” thus derived, 
however ennobling, is very dearly purchased. When probabilities seem nearly 
balanced, when descriptions are so faulty or ambiguous that discrimination itself 
is bewildered; who that in such a case could obtain the aid of a good plate, but 
must hail it with heart-felt delight! This is no fancied picture ; it is in the 
experience of every practical naturalist;—and when I look into botanical works, 
and perceive such men as the 44 accurate Purton,”'* so denominated by Sir J. E. 
Smith, stating frankly that certain species were mistaken by him until he saw 
them figured—when I perceive, even in the pages of The Naturalist , Mr. Dale 
frequently complaining of certain insects being formerly mistaken by him or 
misnamed by him, I see clearly that without pictorial illustration Natural History 
could make no important advances. Had Mr. R. objected only to coloured daubs, 
introduced merely for effect, and preferred the plain though rigid graver as more 
Author of Midland Flora , 4 Vols. 
2 Q 2 
