LIBRARY
^P"
Trang 4THE
NATURALIST'SLIBRARY.
EDITED BY
SIRWILLIAMJARDINE, BART.
F.R.S.E.,F.L.S.,ETC ETC.
VOL.XX.
HORSES.
BY LIEUT.-COL.CHARLES HAMILTONSMITH,
K.H.AND K.W., F.R. ANDL.S., PRESIDENT OFTHE DEVONANDCORNWAJ^s-TJAl' jkiyiT-SQC., ETC.ETC.
THE-r
[VEBBIT
Trang 6CONTENTS.
PAbA
MEMOIROPGESNER
NATURALHISTORY OPTHEEQUIDJE Introduction.
BreedsofHorses noticedbythe Ancients
Medo-Persian Horse, ancientmanedDunStock, fromBas-reliefsofthe Che-el-minar Plate A fig. 1
Egyptian Horse, AncientBayStock, fromThebes,
.fi.2 . 83,109
Skeletonofthe Horse, PlateI.
External Musclesofthe Horse, PlateII.TheWild Horse
The Tarpan WildHorse,primaevalBayStock,froma
DrawingsentfromRussia, PlateIII.
FeralHorsesofAmerica . .173THEEQUID^BINGENERAL .
TheHorse Equuscaballus.
The DomesticHorse Equuscaballus domesticusRacesandBreedsofDomesticHorses
TheArabian Race Plate VIII.
OO4
The BarbofMorocco
The Shrubat-ur-reech, grey, ofthe Morocco Desert,from theprintpublishedinItaly,Plate XI.
The Bornou White Raceof Africa,drawnfromlifeby
Col.HamiltonSmith, PlateX.
The Dongolawhite-footed Black,fromthe LithographpublishedinItaly.It represents the horsewhich
Trang 7PAGETheTurkishRace .231
ThePersian 233TheToorkee Races .238EastIndianRaces(seeAdvertisement,p.viii.) . 241
The Parameroof Peru, froma.beautifulModel done
inPeru. Plate XII 248
TheEnglish BreedsofHorses .250
The English Race-horse. Eclipse, from the print,
drawnto scalebySainbel. PlateIX 253TheVillousHorse,primaevalWhiteStoek,drawnfrom
lifebyCol.HamiltonSmith PlateIV 262MarengoArab, once the propertyoftheEmperor
Bo-naparte,white breed of the BayStock, from theprint. Plate VIII 263
Crisp-haired Horse, probable original Stock of theBlack Horse, drawn from life by Col. Hamilton
Smith Plate V .266
TheEnglishDraughtHorse, Black Race, fromlife,by
Col.HamiltonSmith PlateXIII 263
Decussated Horse, EelbackDunofthe Ukraine,drawn
fromlifebyCol.HamiltonSmith PlateVI . 274
HeadofHungarianHorse, withslitseptumnaris,froma drawingbyZoffani.PlateXXXI. 278
Shetland Pony, fromlife,byMr Stewart PlateXV 283TheSaranRace 287
The Tangum, or Tangan, Piebald primaevalStockofTibet, domesticated race of Sikim, Lower Tibet;
drawingsentfromIndia. Plate VII 288
The Koomrah(by mistakenamedLalisio),Equus
hif>-pagrus,fromlife,-by Col.HamiltonSmith PI.XVI 2.94
TheAsinineGroup .298
TheYo-to-tze (by mistakenamedHippagrus), Asinus
equulens,fromlife,byCol.Ham.Smith PI.XVII 304
TheOnager, Asinusonager, fromlife, byCol.Hamil-ton Smith PlateXVIII. 307
Trang 8PAGKTheDomesticAss. Asinusdomesticus 314
TieDjiggetai (by mistake engraved Quagga Male),
Asinus-hemiwtus, from theprint,An.Litluxjraph.,ofFred.Cuvier.PlateXX .317
TheHippotigrineGroupofZebras 320
TheZebra Male, from life, byCol. Hamilton Smith.PlateXXI . 321
The Angola Dauw, Hippotigris antiquorum, by Mr.Stewart.PlateXXII . 327
Dauw Mare and Colt,Hippotiyri*Burtfielli, byMr.Stewart PlateXXIII . .329
TheQuagga,Hippoligrisquaclia,fromlife,byCol.
Ha-miltonSmith PlateXXIV 330
TheIsabellaQuagga,Hippotigrisisabellinus.,from
spe-cimen in the British Museum, by Col. Hamilton
Smith PlateXXV 832
The Mules 334
BroodMare and third Foal,with marks of Quagga,
.from thepaintingsbyAgasse,inSurgeons'College,London PlateXIV 342
Filley,bearingditto,fromditto. PlateXXVI . 342
Colt,bearingditto,fromditto. PlateXXVII . 342
Hybridfirst Foalof Brood Mare and Quagga, from
ditto.PlateXXIX. o42
Hybrid Ass andZebra, from drawingbyMr Stewart.PlateXXV1H. .3*5
TheHinny, from a drawingmade at Paris, by Col.
HamiltonSmith PlateXXX. .'.'-. .346
PORTRAITOFGESNi^ 2
VignetteTitle-page 3
Trang 9LISTOFPLATES.
PLATE PAGB
A. MedoPersian andEgyptian Horses,fromancientBas-reliefs 83,109
.-1. Skeletonofthe Horse.
2. External Musclesofthe Horse.
3. The Tarpan WildHorse,primaevalBayStock . 160
4. TheVillousHorse,primaevalWhiteStock . 262
5.Crisp-hairedHorse, probableoriginalBlack Stock 266
6. Decussated Horse, EelbackDunoftheUkraine . 274
7. TheTangumPiebald, primaevalStockofTibet . 288
8. MarengoArab, once the propertyoftheEmperor
Bonaparte, white breed oftheBayStock . 262
9.Eclipse. TheEnglish Race-horse 253
10. TheBornouWhite RaceofAfrica
l
228
10.*The Dongola Race 229
11. TheShrubat-ur-reech .227
12. The ParameroofPeru .248
13. TheEnglishDraughtHorse, BlackRace . 269
14. BroodMare andthird Foal,withmarksofQuagga 342
15. ShetlandPony .28316. TheKoomrah Equushippagrus 294
17. TheYo-to-tze. Asinusequuleus 304
18. TheOnager. Asinus onager , 307
19. The WildAssof Persia. Asinushamar ,. 313
20. TheDjiggetai. Asinus hemionus 317
21. The Male Zebra 321
22. The Angola Dauw Hippotigrisantiquorum . 32723. DauwMare andColt. Hippotigris Burchelli . 329
24. TheQuagga. Hippotigrisquacha 33025. TheIsabellaQuagga Hippotigrisisabellinus. 33226. Filley,bearingmarksofQuagga 34227. Colt, third issue of BroodMare, and secondbya
BlackArab 342
28. Hybrid Ass and Zebra 343
Trang 12MEMOIROF GESNER.
INseveralofthe biographicalmemoirs
accompany-ing former volumes of this Work,we have, given
a record of the labours, andattemptedtoappreciate
the merits, ofsome ofthemosteminentnaturalistswho flourished in the sixteenth century Such of
thembelonging to that early period as deserve to
beheldinremembrance, are comparativelyfew in
number; butthese feware entitledtoourwarmestgratitude It wasby their means that Natural
Historywas enabledto emerge from the obscurity
inwhichitwas sunk, incommonwith everyother
departmentofknowledge, duringthelong
intellec-tual night of the dark ages. The generationswhomay be described as having
"
eyes but whosaw
not, earsbut heardnot, andunderstandings but un-derstoodnot," had given place to othersin whichthe senses and facultieswere beginning tobe con-verted to their proper use Individuals appeared
in various countries makingobservations for
Trang 13and Rome, and, in short, accomplishing, thoughin
a smallerdegree, for natural history, what Dante,Petrarch, andothers, had previously donefor lite-rature.
Among the small band of congenial spirits by
whom this resultwasbroughtabout, there is none
more meritorious than Conrad Gesner Indeed,
whenweconsiderhishighscholarship, indefatigableindustry, general knowledgeofnatural history, arid
the influencewhichhisworks havehad onthe pro-gress of knowledge, itmay perhaps be doing him
injustice not to assign him the first place We
should not at least hesitate to do so, were we to
trust implicitly to the eulogiums that have been
passed on him by his admirers, for he has been
affirmedtobethe greatest naturalist theworldhadseen since Aristotle, the discoverer of the onlytrueprinciples of a botanicalarrangement inthe flower
andfruit, towhich thevery existence ofbotanyas
ascience is owing, as the German Pliny, a pro-digyof diligence, learning, and penetration. Even
themorephilosophical and discerning judgment of
Cuvierallows him a high degree of merit, which
will, wethink, befullyborne out by the character
of his workshereafter to beexamined.
CONRAD GESNERwasborn atZurich onthe 26th
March 1516 His parents were in very humble
circumstances; his father, Ours Gesner, being a
worker in hides, andhismother, BarbaraFriccia.
Trang 14a numerous offspring besides Conrad, his parentscoulddolittletoencouragethe loveforreadingandlearningwhichheshowedatan early period. But
hismaternaluncle, JohnFriccius,whowasa
minis-ter, did every thing in his power to promote the
talentswhich he could not fail to discover in his
youngrelative; andit was to this individual thatConradwasindebted forthe rudiments of his
edu-cation Besides instructing himintheelementsof
literature, his uncle inspired him with a love for
the studyof plants, from which the transition
be-came easy to other branches of natural history.
Hehad a garden well supplied with plants,
in-cluding manyof the rarest kinds thenknown, thecare of whichwasinagreato measure entrusted to
young Gesner, who even at thisearly period,
ac-quiredsome reputationin hisimmediate
neighbour-hdodasanherbalist But before his progress had
beenconsiderable, thisvaluable friendwas removed
by death, and Gesner's prospects assumed a very
unpromising aspect Hewas taken for a while,
however, into thefamilyofJohn JamesAmmianus,
a professor of polite literature, who gratuitously
superintended his studies, and showed himmany
acts ofkindnessotherwisefora periodofthreeyears.Shortly after the death of his uncle, his father,
whowas engaged inthe civilwars of Switzerland,
waskilled inthebattle ofZug(thesame inwhich
thefamousreformerZwinglius perished); and thus
Trang 15ownresources Hewas at this time aboutfifteen
years of age.
Heprovedforatime,however, sounfortunatein
obtaining themeansof prosecutinghis studies,that
hewasreduced togreat extremities; andheis even
said, by oneof hisbiographers,to haverepaired to
Strasburgandengagedhimselfasaservant.* Thesame authority on which this statement is made
informs us, that his master soon discovered his
strong inclination for study, andwassoindulgent
as to afford him every opportunity of doing so,
consistently with the duties of his station The
knowledgehenowacquired, added to hisprevious
attainments,renderedhisscholarship highly
respec-table, andhewas employedfora timebyCapiton,adistinguished scholar ofthe day, toassist him inhisliterarylabours With the means acquired in
these various ways, and aided by a contribution
from the prebendaries of Zurich, who manifested
considerable interestinthe welfare of their
towns-man,hewasenabledtorepair toBourges and
com-mence the study of medicine, a profession which
both expediencyandinclination led him to
adopt,
Subsequently to this, andwThen he was about
eighteen years of age, he visited Paris, where he
remainedfora considerable time, devoting himself
entirely tothe acquisition of different branches of
learning, andcompleting hisacquaintance withthe
*
Trang 16ancient
languagesofGreeceand Rome, inwhich he
attainedmorethanusual proficiency. During his
residence in the French capital his circumstances
were oftenmuch straitened, and he was
frequentlyrelievedonthese occasions by a young Bernoin of
nohle family, named Steiger, with whom he hadcontractedafriendship. But allhis resourceswere
ultimately exhausted,andhe was
obligedtoreturntoStrasburg, in the hope that his friends in that
citywouldbeable to obtainfor him someemploy-ment eitherasaprivate or public teacher Here,
however, his staywasveryshort, forwefind that,
in1536, hereturned tohisnativeplace,andopened
aschool forteachingthelanguagesandphilosophy.
Hewasnow about twenty years of age, and
althoughhisprofessional studieswerefarfrom
being
completed, and his situation in life unsatisfactoryandprecarious, he thought proper to marry; and
notwithstandingtheremonstrancesofhis friends on
theimprudence of such a step, under the
circum-stances, he never appears to havehad the least
reason to regret having taken it, but in every
respect the contrary.
We arenotinformedwhatsuccess attendedhim
inhis,capacity as aninstructor of youth,but while
so employed he conciliated the good will of the
magistrates of Zurich, who, appreciatinghislearn-ingand abilities, soughtto obtainhimthemeansofturningthemtobetter account Throughtheir
in-fluence and support, he was enabled to repair to
Trang 17studies, which hadsuffered a considerable
interrup-tion Hisresidencethere, however, wasbutshort,not upwardsof ayear, forthe senate of Bernehad
founded anacademyat Lausanne, andprevailedon
himtobecomeoneofthe teachers Herehe
conti-nuedforaboutthreeyears, employed, mostof that
time, in teaching Greek. His worldly
circum-stances being by this time
greatly improved, he
was enabled to reside for about a year at
Mont-pellier, thentheseat of a celebrated school of
me-dicine,andtheresort of learnedmenfromall parts
ofEurope Herehe formeda friendship with
Ron-delet, professorof medicineat Montpellier, andone
of the ablest naturalistsof his age, whose excellent
work, Depiscibus marinis,*illustratedwith
wood-cuts of great merit, has rendered hisnameknown
andhonoured even inthe present day Itwas, in
allprobability, owr
ing to his intercourse with this
naturalist, and othersthenresiding atMontpellier,
that his predilection for the study of Naturewas
fullyconfirmed, and the resolution, which he
ap-pears- to haveformedata veryearlyperiod of his
life, of
illustrating it byhiswritings, first carried
intoeffect.*
GulielmiRondeletii Libridep'scibus marinis, in quibusverse Piscium effigiesexpressessunt. Lugduni, 1,554,1vol.
fol. Thefigures are rudely engraved,as might be expected
fromthestate oftheartatthatperiod,but theoutlinesare ingeneral accurate,andhighlycharacteristic ofthespecies. "We
willnot saythismuch,however,forthe
Bishop-fish^ and some
Trang 18After manyvicissitudes, the most important ofwhichhave alreadybeenalludedto,heobtained his
degree ofdoctorofmedicine atBasle in1540, beingthenin his twenty-fourth year.
* Heshortly
after-wardssettled as a medical practitioner in Zurich,and his successwas such that he was enabled to
devote a portionboth ofhistimeandmoneytotheprosecution of the studieswhichhehad somuchatheart Heevenhaditin his powerto make
excur-sions, at intervals, throughvarious parts of
Switzer-land,Savoy, &c.insearch of plantsandothernaturalobjects; and, in 1545, he paid a visit to Venice,
where hebecame acquainted withmanyindividuals
whowereina conditionto promote hisviews, and
where he had an opportunityof consulting many
rare books and manuscripts, whence he derived
valuable materialsforhisnumerous works both on
literatureandnaturalhistory. Whilethere, he
de-voted much of histimetotheexamination of the
fishesof theMediterranean, writing descriptions of
them, andgettingdrawings made bythe bestartists
he couldobtain.
From this period the life of Gesner was of a
pretty uniform tenor, and affords not very many
incidents of sufficient interest to be deserving of
minute record Everymoment of his time was
* It
is worth while to mention the subjectof Gesner'aThesis, asan exampleofthe questions then discussed on suchoccasions:I. Ancerebrum sitprincipium sensus et motus,an cor?II. Anqui crescunt, plurimumhabeant calidi
Trang 19employed onthenumerous workshehad on hand,
andscarcely ayearelapsedinwhich hedid not layseveralbefore the public. The most importantof
these willbeafterwards alludedto; themere
enu-merationoftheirtitleswouldoccupy alarge space;
manyof them, moreover, were onlyof temporary
value, anda particular accountof these could notbeof muchinterest in the present day The
cele-britywhich Gesner hadnow acquired, both as a
scholarandnaturalist, causedhis correspondenceto
becourted bymostof the learned ofEurope; and
we find him in communication with nearly all
those whose names have comedowntous as
pro-moters of learningand science Hisbotanical
gar-den includedmany of therarest and most curiousplants then known; and the numerous specimensof natural objects senttohimforexamination,formedthebasisof ageneral museum.Muchof histime
wasspent in the mostzealous exertions to collect
materials for his history of animals and plants;his readingwas interrupted onlyfor the purpose
(to use the words of one of his biographers),
" domiet foris videndo, subinde sciscitando a
qui-busvisdoctis, indoctis, civibus, peregrinis,ventori-bus, piscatoribus, aucupibus, pastoribus, et omni
hominumgenere," inorder that hisworksonthesesubjects mightbemore perfectthan anythat
pre-ceded them.
Inthe midst ofhismultifarious occupations
con-nectedwith literatureand naturalhistory, he
Trang 20MEMOIR
was from this source thathis income was princi-pally derived In 1554 the magistrates of Zurich
appointedhimchiefphysician (agx/argo$),and
pub-licprofessor of philosophy and naturalhistory, an
honour which he justly merited, and which he
seemstohave valued highly. Hehadscarcely
at-tainedthis more influential sphere of action, thanheexerted himself toturn it to the public good;
andhe succeeded in establishingan association of
medical mentowatchover the public health By
thesemeans, acollegeofmedicine andsurgerywasultimately established; and Gesner may thus be
regarded as the founderof anestablishment which
hasbeenof great service to the cityof Zurichup
tothe present day.
Hisnatural history expeditions into various partsof Switzerland, Germany, &c., werefrequent, and
hehadan additional motive for undertaking thembesides his love of collecting, for his constitutionwas naturallyfeeble, and he had stillfurther
im-paired it by ardent study Among other
excur-sions of lessnote, wefind, thatintheyear 1555,
he visitedLucerne andthe places adjacent, incom-pany withtwo brotherphysicians, anda draftsman
namedJohn Thoma.Hewas received with
dis-tinguished honoursbythe magistrates of thatplace,
honours such aswerewont to be paid onlyto
those invested withoffices of public authority He
askedpermission, aswasthenthecustom,toascend
Mont Pilate (monsfractus), and a public officer
Trang 21danger; forthewell-known superstition regardingthe vicinityof this mountain, was at that time infull force He ascended on the 21st of August,
passing the night in a hay-loft. He carefully
examined everything in which he felt interested,
and afew daysafter hisreturnhome, published an
account of themountain, along with his curious
treatise,
" DeLunariis."*
Ithas justbeenstatedthat Gesnerwas ofa
deli-cate constitution, andthiscircumstance hada-con-siderable influenceonhisproceedings duringseveral
ofthe latter years of hislife. While a youth, he
wasthreatened with general dropsy, andalthough
theimmediateeffectsofthismaladywere overcome,
it seems to have produced a permanent debility,
which peculiarlyexposedhimtothe inroads of other
disorders In 1565wefindhim complaining, ina
lettertoafriend,ofanaffectionof thebrain,whichhe
says lasted nearly nineyears In1559hewasafflicted
with calculus, and used all the remedies then in
vogue, against that excruciating disease. He
like-wise tried to find relief bytravelling, as he was
wonttodo on like occasions Some of hisfriends
at the court of Ferdinand, Emperor of Germany,
thought that his visit to that country on this
occasion, afforded agood opportunityof
introduc-inghim tothatmonarch, towhom his celebrity as
*
Conr.Gesneri, derariset admirandis herbis, quassive
quodnoctuluceant, sivealiasobcausas,LunariseDominantur,
&c Ejusdem descriptio mentis fracti,sive mentis Pilati,
Trang 22a scholar and naturalist were well known.Hisreception was highly flattering, and led the way
toseveralimportant favours, which he afterwardsreceivedfrom the handsof the emperor On this
journey, Gesner likewise visited Ulm,and
ulti-matelyrepaired to thewarmbaths of Baden, that
he might try their effect on his health These
provedmore beneficial than he anticipated, andhe
returned toZurichgreatly invigoratedbothinbody
andmind.
The following year he wasmuch occupied in
forming anewbotanic garden, to facilitatethestudy
ofplants, whichnow engaged alarge share of hisattention, ashe designed to publish a general
his-tory of vegetables Shortlyafter his appointment
tothe professorship of natural history, hehad
em-ployed his increased meansin building amuseum,
of suchextent, thatit contained fifteen windows.
These windows (wetranslate the description of his
biographer, Schmiedel), heornamentedinamanneras unusual, asit was agreeable; on each of them
he painted most elegantlyon the glass, arranged
accordingtotheir classes, different speciesof marine,
river, andlacustrinefishes. Hisshelves contained
animmensequantityof metals, stones, gems, and
other natural productions, whichhehad eitherob-tainedaspresentsfromhis friends, orpurchased The
mostliberal of the contributorsto hismuseum washis friend Kentmann, who,amongother objects,presentedhimwithacollectionof fossil fishes, and
Trang 23theserichesof nature, hewas oftenwonttospend
his time, seeking tranquillityofmindfromthe
con-templation ofthem,and refreshing himselfafterthe
numerous toils andvexations oflife,fromwhichthebest are not exempted.* As a necessaryadjunct
to thismuseum, henow enlargedand enrichedhis
botanic garden, stimulated thereto byhaving
wit-nessed the superiority of that of Didymus Obrecht
at Strasburg He obtained rare plants frommostparts of Europe, in particular from France, Italy,
Britain, Germany, and Poland, and it contained
manyof themostcurious kindsfound in his own
country, which is of such great interestin this re-spect, as well as in most other of its natural
features.
Towardstheclose of1560,hishealth againgave
way; he wT
as afflicted with severe pain in the
limbs, and almostentirely lost the use of hisright
leg Having tried various remedies, without
de-riving much benefit, he again repaired to Baden,
andthebathsso farrestored him,thathewas able,
inthe beginning of 1561, tovisit many different
parts,both ofGermanyand Switzerland He
tra-versed the RhetianAlps, ascendedMountBraulius,
andpenetrated into several of themostretiredparts
ofthe country. PartoftheVenetianterritory waslikewise included in this extended expedition, thechief object of which was the improvement of hishealth, one, however, quite compatible with the
study of botany, whichheprosecutedwith
unwea-* Schmieders VitaConradi
Trang 24riedzeal. Theadvantage hederivedfromthewarm
springs ofBaden, seemstohave likewiseturnedhisattentiontovariousmineral springs inSwitzerland,
with aviewtoascertaintheirmedicinal properties.
Thewater of someof these he usedasabath, and
others,ofachalybeate nature,were takeninternally.
These various restoratives, in connexion with his
longtravel,bodilyexercise,andthe
agreeable societyoffriends, ofwhomhehadmanyscatteredover thewholecountry, soimprovedhishealth, that wefindhim writing, onhis return, to oneof his friends,
that hewasnow stronger than he had been for
manyyears Amongotherfruitsofthisexpedition,
hisherbarium, garden, and museum, receivedlarge
accessions.
Henowenjoyed arespite for sometimefromhis
various maladies, andweaccordinglyfind him
im-mersedina multitude of literaryundertakings,
in-cluding several publications on botany. It was
probably,inagreatmeasure, inconsequenceofthe
too great exertionsthereby entailed,thathe wasso
soon again compelled(inthemonthofAugust1562)
toseekrelieffrom thewatersofBaden, whither he
repaired, forthe third time, in companywith hiswife, whosehealthhadbeen allalongasprecarious
as his own.By using the waters in a manner
somewhat different from his former practice, he
speedilybecame convalescent, andin order to
fol-lowupthis favourable change, as he had been
accustomedtodo on formeroccasions, bylong
Trang 25JohnBauhine, thewell-known botanist, to
accom-pany him backto Zurich onfoot, that theymight
haveabetteropportunityof conversingbythewayon
the eubject oftheircommonstudy. This
arrange-ment, however, couldnot beeffected, and Gesner
returned alone It was soon after this that he
wrotea longletter totheEnglishbotanist, Turner,
inwhich he gave a particular account of all his
writingsup tothat date.
AlthoughGesneratnotimeneglectedany ofthegreat branches of naturalhistory, but used every
exertiontoimprove hisvarious works, whichmay
besaid to embracethem all; yet, duringthe twoorthree lastyears of hislife, botanywashis prin-cipal study One ofthegreat objectsof his
ambi-tionwas,ashas beenalready intimated, toproducea history ofplants, and foreseeing, doubtless, that
his lifewas not destined to be a long one, he
re-doubledhisexertionsto attain the purpose he had
so much at heart Thisformed hischief
occupa-tion in 1563 Hehad plants in a living state
brought to him from all parts of the country;
Bauhinesenthimmanydriedspecimens; andeven
whenhishealthwas mostprecarious,he wasinthehabit ofswimminginthelake ofZurich andothersin thatneighbourhood, forthepurposeofcollectingaquatic species Theutmost exertionswere atthesametimemadetohave these plantsdrawn anden-graved, -whichwasdoneentirely at hisownexpense.
Thenumber, qualities, andultimate destiny of the
Trang 26Lave occasion to allude to. This, and numerousother avocations, both of a literary and
profes-sional nature, were interrupted by a recurrence ofhisold complaints, which occasioneda fourthvisit
to Baden, the only quarter to which he wasnow
accustomed to look for relief, norwere his
expec-tations disappointedeven on thisextremeoccasion.
Knowing thefavourable opinion whichtheEm-perorFerdinandentertained ofhisservicesto scienceandliterature, Gesnerfeltdesirous of obtainingsomepublic expression of hisregard, notonly as an
en-couragement to othersto follow his example, but
asan honorary distinction to hisfamily. Thiswas
no sooner intimated by his friends, Alexander,
Amorfort, andCraton, physicianstothecourt,than
thewishwasimmediately complied with;andletters
patent were issued granting armorial bearings to
Gesnerand hisfamily, with astatementof the
cir-cumstances for which this honour was conferred.
Without attemptingto describe the shieldin the
technicallanguageof heraldry, itmaysufficeto say,
thatthe devices were all emblematicalof the
sub-jects which Gesnerhadillustrated by hiswritings.
Each of the four quarterswas occupiedbyan
ani-mal aneagle with expanded wings, a lion ram-pant, abasilisk, andacrowned dolphin; the crest,
aswansittingon acrownoflaurel, withthreestars
onitsbreast, and alikenumber on each of itsex-pandedwings AsGesnerwaschildless,heobtainedpermission that the same arms should be borneby
Trang 27aswell as his offspring, whowere very numerous.
This honourwas accompanied byanother markof
the Emperor'sesteem, whichour naturalist valued
highly,namely,a present ofsomefragmentsofhezoir
stone, which wasthen veryrare, and heldinhigh
estimation.
Subsequentlyto thishe againvisitedBaden, and
for the last time On his return he was greatly
distressedbythe deathof hismother, towhom he
was verywarmly attached: this event took place
in April 1564 Soonafter, the plague, which had
forsometime raged inBasle, made its appearance
inZurich; and Gesner, both on accountofhis
pro-fessionalexperienceandscientific skill, was looked
tomore than anyother individual for some meansof
checking its ravages Hewasnot slowin
de-voting himself to the inquiry; and theresultofhis
investigationssoon appearedinaworkonthe natureof the contagionandthe bestmeans of cure He
wasfully sensibleoftherisk heincurredbyvisitingso many patients, andhad a
strong presentiment
thathewas himself to be avictim In a dream,
whichmade agreat impressionon him, he thought
thathewas bittenbyaserpent; thisheinterpreted
todenote the attack of the disease; andhe wrote
toseveral of his friends tointimate thathewasnow
preparing himselffor anotherworld Forthe
pre-sent, however, it pleasedProvidenceto sparehim.
The severity of the disease gradually abated, and
Gesnerwasenabled to resume his former
Trang 28favourite work on plants, and likewiseanother on
thenature of stones andfossils.
Although the pestilence had abated, it had
never entirely left Zurich and its neighbourhood,
andvabout the middle of July, 1565, it again
broke out in that citywithgreatervirulence than
before Gesner witnessed its approach with
tran-quillity; but his presentiment again returned, and
he endeavoured to make preparation for thegreat
change which he believed to be near Hewas
seized with the disorder on the 9th of
Decem-ber, when it had a second timegreatlymoderated,
and he had again almost overcome his
apprehen-sions Alargepestilential carbuncle made its
ap-pearance under his right arm, but it was
accom-panied with no pain in the head, fever, or other
bad symptom.Hisstrengthwas so little reduced,
that he continued to walk about his apartment,
only reclining occasionally on a couch But he
had seen many die with precisely the same
symp-toms, and from the first he indulged no
expecta-tions of recovery. He therefore called together
his friends, and delivered to them his will, in
which he madesome provision for his wife and
nephews, and appointed his only surviving sister
his heiress His libraryand manuscripts wereen-trusted to Caspar Wolf, formerly his pupil, and
latterly his colleague, with injunctions that his
writings should becarefullyperused and arranged,and such of them published as were likelv tc b
Trang 29These matters arranged, hiswhole thoughtswere
turned to futurity, and he conversed calmly with
Henry Bellinger and John Simler (two clergymenwith whomhehad livedon terms of themost
inti-mate friendship), usingwords of hope and
resig-nation The fifth day afterthe commencementof
his disorder, hismedicalattendants sawthatdeath
was near: but he thoughtO himselfbetter,7 and
de-clinedhaving any oneto sitbyhisbed-side duringthe night. About eleveno'clock, however, of thesame night, hebecameconscious thathis strengthcouldholdout verylittlelonger againstthe violenceof the disease; andcalling his attendants, he
re-quested thattheywouldcarryhimintohismuseum,
wherehehad caused a bedtobe preparedfor him
the daybefore It wasin this place, the sceneof
many a laborious study, andamong the objectswhichhehadcollectedwith suchindefatigablezeal,
that he breathed hislast, in thearmsof his wife,
onthe 13th December, 1565, not havingquite
com-pletedhisfiftiethyear.
The whole citywas thrown into mourningby
Gesner's death,andhis funeral, whichtook placeon
the following day, was attended by a large con-course of people of allranks Hewas interred in
thecloisterofthegreat churchof Zurich, nearthetomb of his intimate friend Frisius, who died theprecedingyear Hisfuneralorationwaspronounced
bySimler, who afterwards becamehis
biographer.
Mcin^ \erses, both Greek and Latin, werewritten
Trang 30find Theodore Beza, andmany others of scarcely
inferiorname.
Itmaybeinferred, fromwhat has been alre?r;y
said regarding the frailtyof Gesner's constitution,that therewaslittlelikelihood of his attaining an
advancedage, evenifhehadescapedthe contagion
which carriedhimoff. The delicacy of his healthwas indicated by a pallid and almost emaciated
countenance, the general expression ofwhich was,
however, highlyagreeable, and indicative of great
sensibility Hisforeheadwasbroad, high, and
pro-minent, markedwithnumerous deepwrinkles, the
result of severe studyandprofoundthought. His
nosewas longandelevated,without beingaquiline;hislipsthin; mouthexpressiveandagreeable. His
beard was copious, long and dense, slightlycurled
or undulating, " lenitatis ingenii indicium essepotest," says his biographer ISchmiedel, onwhoseauthoritywewishthe statement to rest. Various
portraits exist, corresponding to this description;that prefixed to this memoir is taken from one
whichwe regardasthemostcharacteristic.
The voluminous works of Gesner may be
di-vided into three classes;first, those on literary
subjects; secondly, those relating to medicine and
the materia medica; and, thirdly, thoseonnatural
history.
Asitismostappropriate tothepurposewehave
at present in viewto consider Gesner as a
natu-ralist, wedonot proposeto enter, in this place,into
Trang 31on the two former of these subjects; but some
account of them is necessaryto enable ustoform
anidea ofthe extent ofhisacquirements,hisextra-ordinarypowersof application, and thewonderful
fertilityof his genius. Shortlyafter obtaining hisdegree,hepublishednumeroustranslations ofGreek
treatises,onvarious subjects ofliterature and
criti-cism, an edition of Martial, &c., besides editingseveralworksfor his friends Ofthe latterwemay
mention that ofhisfriend Moibau, of whosework
onDioscorideshe superintendedthe publication, in
orderthat the friends of the author might obtainthe emoluments: that of Valerius Cordus, " De
HistoriaPlantarum,"a zealous naturalist, whodied
at Rome at the early age of twenty-nine; and
lastly, the " Lexicon Rei Herbarise Trilinque" of
his friendKyber,whowas carriedoffbytheplague
at
Strasburg atanequally earlyage Buthismost
important work in this departmentwas his
BiUio-theca Unwersalis, the object ofwhich wasnot only
togive the titles of all theworks then known, in
Hebrew, Greek,and Latin, whetheractually
exist-ingor lost, but to afford some knowledge oftheir
contents, a specimen of their style, and a critical
estimate of the merits of the respective authors.Theidea was an excellent one, and has, as iswell
known, been often acted upon since It is said
to have
suggested to Haller the plan of his
Bib-liotheca Britannica, andBiblioth Anatomica The
first part of the work was published at Zurich in
Trang 32arranged alphabetically The second part, which
hecalledthe Pandects, appeared in 1548, divided
into nineteen books, and arrangedaccording tothenature of the subjects: the twentieth book was to
oe devoted to medical subjects, but was never
rinished, astheauthorwasunableto satisfyhimself
astoitscompletenessandaccuracy; the twenty-first
embracedtheological authorsanddidnotappeartill
about a year after the rest.* Many editions of
Greek and Latinauthors,withnotesand
commen-taries, werepublishedbyGesner, as wellasseveralDictionaries, amended and enlarged, such as the
Latin Lexicon Ambr. Calepini^ Greek Dictionary
of Favorini, &c Helikewise publishedmanypor-tions of Greek manuscripts which he had copied
duringhis travelsin Italyand Venice, such as the
AphorismsofAbbas Maximus,Institutionsof
Theo-philus, theOrationofTatianusAssyrius, translating
severaloftheminto Latin, andadding explanatorynotes; besidesmanyothertreatises relating to
an-cient literature One of the most curious and
in-genious of his productionsonliterarysubjects was
publishedin 1555, underthe nameof Mithridates,
oraninquiry"Dedifferentiis
linguarum,"an
inves-tigationforwhich his extensiveacquaintance botli
with ancient and contemporaneous languages
ad-mirablyqualifiedhim Heoriginatedmanyviews
inthis work whichhave beenmorefully developed
* AnabridgmentoftheBib. Universalis,with the additionofagooddealofnewmatter, bySimlerandJ J.Fries,was
Trang 33sincebyauthorswhohaveneglected tomentionthesourcefromwhichthey derivedthem.
Medical men have often expressed their regret
that the portion of the Bib Universalis relating to
the literature of the healing art was never com-pleted; the materials which Gesner had amassed
Were certainlyextensive (he expresslyaffirms so inalettertoone of hisfriends), andtheirpublication
wouldhavebeendesirable, even although theyfell
short of hisown wishes This desideratum,
how-ever,wasto acertain extent suppliedbythe
publi-cation, in 1555, ofa large volume entitled, " De?
ChirurgiaScriptoresoptimiquiqueveteres et
recen-tiores, plerique in Germania ante hac non editi,
nunca Conr.Gesneroinunumconjunct!volumen,"
to which various treatises on medical subjects are
appended Many small treatises on medical
sub-jects emanated at different times from hisprolific
pen Hepublishedmorethan one edition of
Ga-len; that of the date 1562 wasenrichedwith
pro-legomena, an elaborate life of Galen, and a very
full list of the authorswhohad inanyway
illus-tratedhis doctrines Withaviewtoinduce medical
mntoco-operatewith each other, and
communi-cate theirdiscoveriesforthe general good, he
pub-lished, in 1552, what he called " Thesaurus deremediissecretis,"&c Thisatfirstappeared under
the fictitiousname ofEuonymus; but itcameintogreat request, and was afterwards laid before thepublicinan enlargedandamended form, with the
Trang 34medi-cinales; unus desanitatetuenda; altercontraluxus
conviviorura; tertiuscontra notasastrologicasEphe-meridum insecandisvenis;" wereprintedatZurich
in1556 Hewaslikewise the author, or editor,of
severalother smallworks and treatises on subjectssimilar to those mentioned, but we cannot here
afford
spaceforafull list ofthem Alittle work,
" De lacte," treating ofmilk and its various
pre-parations, whichappearedin 1543, may, from the
modeinwhichthe subjectistreated, be regardedas
a contributiontomedical dietetics.
We shall now proceedtogive some account of
his principalworks on NaturalHistory, and shallfirst mention his "
Historia Animalium," for that
is the work with which Gesner's name is usually
associated, and on which his reputation principally
depends Itiscertainlyasingularmassof matter,
originalandcompiled, displayinga degree of
erudi-tion, research, andindustry,which might well lead
us,ashasbeen remarked, to believe,that instead of
being the work of a physician, who raised and
maintained himselfby his practice, andwhowas
cut offinthemidstofamostactive andusefullife,
it wasthe labour ofarecluse, shutupforan agein
hisstudy, andneverdivertedfromhisobjectby anyother cares Hehadconceived the design of such
an undertakingatan earlyperiod of hislife, butit
isnot probable, when we consider his other
avoca-tions, thatmuchofit wasexecutedtillafewyears
Trang 35learninghadprocured him, encouraged his design
bytransmitting specimens, andremarksonthe
ani-mals of their respective countries.* The
jour-neysalsowhichhehad an opportunity of making,affordedhimarich harvest of materials, of whichhe did not fail to avail himselfto the uttermost.
Stillitis surprising howhe could accomplish so
much, in the comparatively limitedtimewhich he
could devoteto thetask.
Thework inquestion isdivided into five books,generallyboundup, ashe himselfrecommended, inthreefoliovolumes Thefirstpart,printed at
Zu-richin1551, treats of viviparousquadrupeds; the
second,publishedin1554,ofoviparousquadrupeds;
thethird,ofthe date1555,of birds; andthefourth,
1556, of fishes and other aquatic animals The
fifthpartwasa posthumouspublication, drawn up
fromGesner'smanuscripts by JamesCarron,a
phy-sicianof Frankfort Itissaidtoberarerthantheothers; it treats of serpents, and has usually
ap-pended to it a treatise onthe scorpion, published
from ourauthor'spapers underthesuperintendence
ofCaspar Wolf. Thetwo latter treatises did not
appear till 1587, that is, twenty-two years after
the author's decease.
Besidesthis, theoriginal edition, itmaybe
pro-* In the
listof contributors, towhomheexpresses his
obli-gations,wefind the names ofGulielmus Turnerus, Anglus;
Jo Caius,medicusLondiniclarissimus;Jo.Fauconerus,
An-glus;Jo.Parkhurstus, Anglus, theologusetpoeta
Trang 36pertomentionthatanumberof otherssubsequentlyappeared, somein Latin, others inGerman, andone
ortwoinFrench Several ofthese, webelieveall,
aremoreorless
abridgedandaltered in the
arrange-ment; someof themaredesignedtobemere
vehi-cles forthewoodcuts, withthe addition ofaportion
oftheoriginaltext in explanation of thefigures Itis these later and less regular editions which aremost commonly metwith inlibraries.
The animals are simply arranged in the
alpha-beticalorderoftheirLatinnames; andtheaccount
of each is divided into eight heads or chapters,referringto the following particulars:1st,thenamesindifferentlanguages, ancientand modern; 2d,
de-scriptionof parts externaland (occasionally) inter-nal,andvarietiesofthespecies; 3d, various actionsandpassions,whethernatural or contrarytonature;
4th,affectionsof the mind, manners, and instincts,
&c.; 5th, various uses to man, besides food and
remedies; 6th, uses as food; 7th, diseases; 8th,
philology, or references madeto themby authors,
whether in prose or verse, the epithets they have
applied,&c.
Thegeneralarrangement, ifsuchitcanbecalled,
differs but little from that ofAristotle, the grand
divisionbeingintolandandwateranimals Asanexampleofhismodeof subdividinga primary group
intowhat he calls orders, we shall giveadigest of
Trang 37Quadrupedes aut sunt viviparee, aut oviparse;illasinsexordines distribuimus.
ContinetigiturQuadrupedumvivipararum mansuetarum
ORDO1.bestias mansuetas, quse armenta vel greges consti-tuunt;cornutaeomneset bisulcae sunt, etruminant, non
utrinquedentatse; utboves, oves, caprae.
2. ex mansuetisjumentaquse sine cornibus et solipedasunt;utequum,sues, canes, etfelemdomesticam.
FerarumveroQuadrupedumvivipararumquaomnesutrinquedentatcesunt,
ORDO1. complectitur ferascornutas; ut boves,capras,
cer-vum,elephantum,*&c.
2. non conmtas majores:quoa hominem aut aliaani-malia unguibus et dentibus laedant, multifidae omnes
praeteraprumbisulcum; ut suntursus,leo, tigris,&c.
3. ejusdemnaturae reliquas media3 magnitudinis
minus-quenoxias; ut suntcastor, lutra, vulpes,&c.
4.minimasetmuriumferegeneris; quorumeaquasperarboresautparietes repere etscandere possunt;ut suntcuniculus,nms,glis,talpa,&c.
Animalium Quadrupedumovipararum
ORDO1.etultimus, complectitur chamaeleontem, testudinemterrestrem,lacertarumqueetranarumterrestrium genera.Namcrocodilum, ranasetlacertas aquatiles,aquatiliumlibrosubjunximus.f
At the period whenGesner wrote, any thing1
approaching to accurate views of classification or
arrangement could not be expected; indeed the
importance of the subject was never thought of.
But theabovesubdivisions are altogether arbitrary
and useless; nay, with our present notions on the
* Heregards the tusksofthe elephantas horns,
Trang 38subject,they cannot be regarded as otherwise than
ludicrous Animalsare referredto differentordersaccording to the accident oftheir being
domesti-cated orwild; andsize is assumed as determining
ordinal differences Thus the lion and tiger areplaced inone order, while their near relatives the
panther and other smaller spotted felines, are
re-ferredtoanother, magnitudimsratione, as he
him-self
expresses it. Perhaps his division offishesis
preferable; but after having afforded one exampleof this kind, itis
unnecessary to dwell on the
subject.
Hisdescriptionandhistory of theanimals
them-selvescannotingeneralbe spokenofotherwisethan
intermsofhigh commendation,particularly of those
kindswhichfellunderhisownobservation, the
ani-mals of Switzerland, forexample Wehave atfull
lengthallthathas beenpreviously written
respect-ingthem,combinedwithmuchoriginalinformation.
Takethe general history of hawksforan example,
inthecommencementofhisvolumeonbirds
With-out attemptingto discriminatemanyof the closely
alliedkinds, an objectwhich can scarcelybe said
tobesatisfactorilyaccomplished eveninthe presentday, heentersintothe generalities of the family
with considerable knowledge of their habits andgeneral history; givinginstructionsforrearingthemand training them for the chace, for
curing their
Trang 39little sound natural history remains. As a good
specimen of his manner, we may refer to the
ac-count of theeagle, which extends to nearly thirty
closely printedfoliopages Muchcurious informa-tionmightbeextractedfromhisvolumesregarding
manyspeciesofalmost everyorder, as,forexample,
theaccount of thespeakingnightingales; butspace
cannotbe afforded inthisplaceforsuchaselection.
Wemay translate, however, his short account of
the white ox of Scotland (what is now usually
called theHamiltonbreedof cattle), whichis
curi-ous in several respects. Henames it the Bison
allus Scoticus, and gives a figure of the animal,
which, however, isnot sowell executed as many
of the others "The Caledonian forest of
Scot-land produces very white oxen, having a mane
likethat ofalion,butinother respectsverysimilar
tothedomesticatedkinds They aresofierce,
un-tameable, andeager to avoid human society, that
whentheyfeelthatanyplant,tree,orshrub hasbeen
touchedbythehandsofman, theycontinuetoflee
fromitformany days When taken byany
stra-tagem (whichisverydifficult), they die soon afterfor
grief. Butwhenthey areaware that theyare
pursuedbyanyone,they rush uponhimwithgreat
fury and drivehimtotheearth Theyfearneitherdogs, hunting-spears, nor any kind of weapon.
Theirfleshisveryagreeable to thetaste, and
parti-cularly in request by the nobility, although itiscartilaginous Although theywere wont to occur
Trang 40only onepart of it, which is called Cummernald;
theresthaving been destroyedforfood. This race
of oxen," adds Gesnertothe aboveaccount, which
is partlyfrom another author, "seems properly tobe called the white Scottish or Caledonian bison,
becauseitismanedlikealion, asOppian writes ofthebison."
Wemustnowalludeto whatforms notthe least
remarkable orinterestingfeature inthisgreatwork,
namely, the woodcuts with whichitis so
copiouslyreplenished Thegreat majority of theanimalsde-scribed are represented by wood-engravings, many
ofthem onalargescale, thoseof the horse, camel,
andswan, for example, nearlyfilling a folio page,
and there are many others of equal magnitude.
The number, itisobvious, musttherefore be very
great, almost every page presenting one or two,
and themajorityseveral. By farthe greater
num-ber of them are well executed, so much so
in-deed, that severalcan be pointed outwhich would
bearcomparison withmodern specimensof theart.
Theoutlines, ingeneral, are accurately drawn,and
although the workmanship is occasionally rather
coarse, the figures are, in most cases, not only
perfectlyrecognisable,but even formfaithfuland
cha-racteristic delineations Itisamatterofsurprise that
artists couldthen be found capable of representingsuch objects so well, and that Gesner could incurthe expense, for he must have had whatmay be
almostcalledalittlemanufactory underhischarge;