The book of antelopes, vol. 1 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 1 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
From my position at the Zoological Society and from the aid received
from numerous correspondents in all parts of the world, I had little
difficulty from the first in providing my much-esteemed friend with
materials for his studies, and in the beginning of 1871 had the
pleasure of putting at his disposal some notes and materials concerning
the Antelopes of the genus _Tragelaphus_. Upon these was based the
excellent paper on that genus read by Sir Victor before the Zoological
Society on the 16th of May of that year, the first of a series of
essays on this and kindred subjects. Four similar papers, as will be
seen by reference to the Zoological Society’s ‘Proceedings,’ followed
in 1872, three in 1874, and others in succeeding years, until 1878,
when, I regret to say, they came to an abrupt conclusion. The last of
the series was one of an extremely useful and important character,
containing, as it did, a complete essay on the classification of the
Deer-family and a synopsis of the existing species, which, until
recently, has remained our leading authority upon this difficult
group of Mammals. During the whole of this time also Sir Victor had
been engaged in collecting specimens, and in having drawings made
by Wolf and put upon the stone by Smit, for a complete work on the
Bovine animals which he had planned out and proposed to write. After
1878, however, other matters intervened and sadly interfered with my
friend’s studies in Natural History. Sir Victor changed his habitual
residence to Pau, and though I now saw him occasionally in London on
his way from France to his home in Ireland, I could never induce him
to continue his former researches, although he always assured me that
he was still devoted to Natural Science and was determined to return
to it eventually. Circumstances, however, prevented him from carrying
his wishes into effect. In November 1891, when still in the prime of
life, Sir Victor died, leaving his great work still unfinished, and
represented mainly by a series of over a hundred lithographic plates,
which, as already mentioned in the Introduction, have formed the basis
of the present work. The MSS. which were also kindly placed at my
disposal by the family, not having been touched for nearly fifteen
years, were in such an incomplete state that it was impossible to
utilize them. Upon pointing out this to his son, the present Sir
Douglas Brooke, he was good enough to assure me that his only wish was
that the best possible use for Science should be made of the whole of
the materials accumulated by his father. Acting upon this understanding
I undertook to prepare the letterpress of an entirely new work on the
Antelopes, using such of Sir Victor’s plates as I could employ for its
illustration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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