The natural history of the ordinary Cetacea or whales / Illustrated by thirty-two coloured plates, numerous wood-cuts, with memoirs and portrait of Lacepede.

  • Hamilton, Robert, 1794-1868.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The natural history of the ordinary Cetacea or whales / Illustrated by thirty-two coloured plates, numerous wood-cuts, with memoirs and portrait of Lacepede. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    voluminous and pleasing account of cetaceous animals that has ever appeared from the press.” He adds, “ the style is animated and poetical, and his history is a most interesting work; but the interest, in many cases, is augmented at the expense of truth ; it is by no means accurate.” (Artic. reg. i. 447-9.) Perfectly agreeing in this criticism, and ascribing the many inaccuracies to the imperfect state of this very difficult branch of science at the time of the publi- cation, we deem these few words sufficient to put our readers on their guard, in their perusal of this interesting production. _ After this time M. Lacépéde undertook a work somewhat different in its character; more philoso- phical, and less liable to become antiquated by the rapid progress of science. He designated it a History of the Ages of Nature, in which he com- prehended that of man,—considered in his indivi- dual developement, and in that of the race. The article Homme, in the Dict. des, Sciences Naturelles, is a sort of programme of what he contemplated on the physical history of our race. The romances which he wrote,—Ellival and Caroline, and Charles @ Elliwal et Alphonsine de Florentino,—and published about this time, were considered by him as sizdies upon man’s moral history. But it was soon ap- parent that in the midst of these meditations the gradual developement of social life had the most especial charms for him, and the naturalist gradu- ally merged into the historian; he dwelt chiefly ‘upon the political and religious establishments