The Early Naturalists

Abstract

IN this account of the naturalists who worked and wrote during the period between the commencement of the Protestant Reformation and that of the French Revolution, Prof. Miall has placed under a considerable obligation those who are interested in the advancement of natural knowledge. The period to which the work is in the main limited constitutes perhaps as natural an epoch as may be found in human history. Whether the period be natural or not, the charming-introductory sketch of “Natural History down to the Sixteenth Century” fully justifies the selection of the date at which the author's account of scientific progress formally opens, while the closing date adopted is at least convenient. But the work is one that could only have been wrritten with unusually full knowledge of the scientific happenings since the date of Buffon's death, and it is owing to the possession of this knowledge that the author has been able to assess so authoritatively as he does the extent and the value of the permanent additions to biological truth which marked the period he passes under review.

The Early Naturalists.

Their Lives and Work (1530”1789). By Dr. L. C. Miall., F. R. S. Pp. xi + 396. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1912.) Price 10s. net.