Publisher description
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PREFACE TO "THE CON- CHOLOGISTS FIRST BOOK" FIRST EDITION, 1899 . He term " Malacology, " an abbreviation I of " Malacozoology, " (sic), from the £ Greek valaTjos (soft), Ww (an animal), and Ifyot (a discourse), was first employed by the French naturalist De Blainville to designate an important division of Natural History, in which the leading feature of the animals discussed was the Softness of the flesh, or, to speak with greater accuracy, of the general envelop. This division comprehends not only the mollusca, but also the testacea of Aristotle and Pliny, and, of course, had reference to the molluscous animals in general, -of which the greater portion have shells. A treatise concerning the shells, exclusively, of this greater portion, is termed, in accordance with general usage, a "Treatise upon Conchology or Conchyliology;" although the word is somewhat improperly applied, as the Greek conchylion, from which it is derived, embraces in its signification both the animal and shell. Ostracology would have been more definite. The common works upon this subject, however, will appear to every person of science very essentially defective, inasmuch as the relation of the animal and shell, with their dependence upon each other, is a radically important consideration in the examination of either. Neither, in the attempt to obviate this difficulty, is a work upon Malacology at large necessarily included. Shells, it is true, form, and for many obvious reasons will continue to form, the subject of chief interest, whether with regard to the school or the cabinet; but, there is no good reason why a book upon Conchology (using the common term) may not be malacological as far as it proceeds. In this view of the subject the present little work is offered to the public. Beyond
More books by Edgar Allan Poe
Similar books
Rate the book
Write a review and share your opinion with others. Try to focus on the content of the book. Read our instructions for further information.
Masterful essays; fanciful, humorous and serious
Book reviews » Masterful essays; fanciful, humorous and serious (1908)
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
