1810.] Anatomy of a Caterpillar.—Communion Taidles. 217 
as all the other productions of the’ 
Sdgeworth family; and will, I hope, 
do much good. One vematle however, 
neither liberal nor just, has struck me in 
its perusal, which, as L do not believe 
the author would knowingly be either 
illiberal or unjust, I shall take leave to 
notice, 12 the hope that in any future edi- 
tion it will be omitted or modified. 
As an illustration of the diference be- 
tween ‘useful order, and vain finical 
precision,” (page 225) Mr. E. contrasts 
the arrangenients of Buffon and Linneus 
with what he calls “ the curious inper- 
tinence of Lyonet, who wrote a quarto 
volume on the anatomy of a caterpillar.” 
Little did poor Lyonet think, when he 
had exerted every faculty in the produc- 
tion of a work which the amiable Bonnet 
termed ‘‘letonnante et admirable che- 
nile de Lyonet,” and which bas called 
forth universal astonishment and admi- 
ration, that his labor would be branded 
with the name of curious impertinence 
by any man of an enlightened under- 
standing. And what is the ground of Mr, 
E.’s epithet? Does he mean that it was 
ippertinence to write at all about the 
anatomy of a caterpillar; or that the 
impertinence consists in writing a quarto 
book on what ought to have been dis- 
patched in a pamphlet?. I cannot admit 
the first. supposition. Mr. Edgeworth 
is not one of those who meesure the im- 
portance of natural objects by their cu- 
bical capacity ; and believe, that because 
an elephant is bigger than a caterpillar, it 
must be of more importance in the scale 
of creation. If he were, I need but 
refer him to the remarks of his friend 
Dr. Darwin, in his Phytalogia, on the 
aphidivorous fly, to convince him that 
the destruction of an insect so mean, so 
minute, would cause a greater gap in 
nature than even the annihilation of the 
race of elephants ;-—I need but refer him , 
to some late volumes of the Linnean So- 
* ciety’s transactions, where it is shewn 
that our re: aping a single acre of wheat is 
dependent on the friendly exertions of an 
ichneumon not bigger than a pin’s head. 
Yet though [ cannot suspect Mr, E. of 
the vulgar folly of estimating things by 
their size, I cannot conceal, that I do 
not beheve that if Mr. Carlisle or 
Mr. Home had written a quarto vo- 
Jame on the anatomy of an elephant, he 
would have sneered at their labor, or 
ealied it curious impertinence. We 
must recur then to the second supposi- 
tion: Mr, E. objects to writing a quarto 
volume on such a subject, But is this 
Monztury Mac. No. 197. 
either wise or consistent? Can it be 
doubted, that every contribution to our | 
present imperfect knowledge of compara= 
tive anatomy is important? and if it be 
worth while to do a thing at all, is it not 
worth while to do it well? Lyonet discover- 
ed and dissected four thousand and forty- 
one muscles in the cossus caterpillar, a 
number much greater than has been dis- 
covered in the human body. Was it 
likely that this astonishing assemblage 
could be described in-less space than a 
quarto volume? and was it desirable that, 
for the sake of avoiding the aiiien 
impertinence” of writing more than an 
octavo on such a subject, he should 
have left half of them undescribed, or 
described the whole imperfectly ? So, [ 
will venture to assert, does not the ce-= 
lebrated Cuvier tina who has himself 
Spent much time on the anatomy of in- 
sects, who has had his labor much faci-+ 
litated by Lyonet, and regrets only that 
he has not been preceded in this almost 
untrodden path by more Lyonets. Mr. 
E. has judiciously directed the parents 
of youth to turn their attention to such 
wonders in nature as the fourteen hundred 
lenses in the eye of adrone bee: why not 
add to this the still more astonishing fact, 
that an animal so small and despised as i 
caterpillar should have been furnished 
with no less than four thousand nruscles 2 
And was Lyonet, for furnishing us with 
this fact, to be called a “€ frivolous pe= 
dant,” and his work a curious imper- 
tineree? We praise a Heyne, who spends 
his days in illustrating and investigating 
the works of a classical poet; and are we 
to ridicule a man who occupies himsel 
in exploring the works of nature ? 
ENTOMOPHILUS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SEE 
N answer to the first question proposed 
by Mr. Hall, in your magazine for 
last August, it will be suthicient to observe, 
that the custom of placing the altar at the 
eastern end of the sacred edifice, appears 
to be coeval with the regular establish- 
ment of christianity. That position was 
assigned to the alrar, in order that, during 
the celebration of the mass, the eyes of 
the congregation misht be directed 
towards Jerusalem, the actual scene of 
the ‘crucifixion. For this purpose it 
was thought sufficiently accurate, in those 
countries. which first composed the La- 
tin church, to have the building erect- 
ed due east and west; and when chris- 
245 tianity 
(RPS 4a SS eee 
ge ke es od 
reer ey 
——— 
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EEE 
