This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1861 Excerpt: ... important in scientific conchology, Reaumur enriched it with much curious and interesting matter. His inquiry into the mechanism by which the limpets fix themselves so firmly, and the byssiferous bivalves spin their silken cables; his accurate description of the structure of the shell of the Pinna; and his experimental essav on the purple dye of the Buccinum, suggested to him by the excellent paper on the same subject by Mr Cole of Bristol, are favourable specimens of his talent for, observation, and real additions to the stock of our knowledge, while they captivate us by the elegant and copious style in which they are written, and by the clearness of their details. These labours and discoveries, and the high character of their authors, render the conclusion of the 16th, and the beginning of the 17th century, unquestionably the most interesting period in the history of conchology. Ray, who discovered the peculiar hermaphroditism of the snail, was the intimate friend of Lister, --Petiver and Sloane, celebrated for their museums, had entered the field ere he retired, --Balfour and Sibbald in Scotland were his contemporaries, and the latter his correspondent, --Poupart and Mery, two French anatomists of deserved celebrity, carried their researches in the same direction, --and Swammerdam, Leewenhoeck, and Rumphius in Holland, --all these men were each in their way advancing conchology with a rapidity hitherto unexampled and not yet surpassed. We are apt, dazzled by this galaxy, to fix our attention too exclusively on the anatomical and physiological branches of the science, but let us not forget to note the benefit it received by the zeal of collectors, who were now importing species in great numbers from every quarter of the globe, and congregating them in museu