Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus: with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural HistoryMacGillivray, William
Philosophy
Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus: with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History
MacGillivray, William
Zoologists
Its reception hitherto has exceeded the most sanguine anticipations of
the Proprietors; and they need only refer to the favourable notices in
almost every journal in the British empire, for evidence that it is now
established in the estimation of the public as a Work of acknowledged
merit. It has also been reviewed with much commendation in numerous
foreign periodicals; on the Continent, translations of it continue to be
executed from time to time; and in America, the volumes, as they appear,
are regularly stereotyped. The method adopted from the beginning, of not
restricting the publication to monthly issues, has proved of material
advantage,--by allowing the different authors ample time to finish their
respective contributions in the most satisfactory manner; while, by
employing on the more important subjects a combination of talent, and
sometimes devoting to them two or three volumes, means are secured for
rendering each work as perfect as possible. It needs but a cursory
glance at what is already done to be convinced, that although the field
of enterprise is wide and diversified, the various subjects are so
methodically treated, and so closely allied in their nature, as to
amalgamate into one regular and connected whole, which, when completed,
will form a full and comprehensive Cabinet of truly valuable information
for all classes of the community. The entire plan may be briefly
detailed under four subdivisions:--
I.--HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND STATISTICS.
These form properly the basis of the system; for surely no study can be
more interesting, or more instructive, than that which makes us
acquainted with the political institutions and domestic habits of
foreign nations; with their productions and resources, their literature,
antiquities, and physical appearance; the principal events of which they
have been the theatre; and with the condition of their present
inhabitants. The Proprietors conceive that the manner in which these
branches of knowledge are combined in the CABINET LIBRARY, is an
advantage which distinguishes its design; as by this means the reader is
put in possession of the history, the geography, and the statistics of
every particular country in one work, instead of having to search for
them in many volumes, and these frequently so expensive as to be beyond
the reach of ordinary readers. This department, in so far as it has yet
advanced, may serve to illustrate the general plan.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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