The Animal Kingdom, Vol. 1 of 4 Arranged According to Its Organization, Serving as a Foundation for the Natural History of Animals, and an Introduction to Comparative Anatomy (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Animal Kingdom, Vol. 1 of 4: Arranged According to Its Organization, Serving as a Foundation for the Natural History of Animals, and an Introduction to Comparative Anatomy In presenting this version of the "Animal Kingdom" of the celebrated Cuvier to the British public, the Translator feels assured that he has only acted in compliance with the wishes of the most intelligent portion of the community, inasmuch as the great deficiency in our language of a complete work in this grand department of Natural History is thus supplied in a manner that it is impossible to excel. It is essential for the reader to understand that the attempts hitherto made by English authors to enrich British scientific literature with the labours of Cuvier, have been confined to the translation of the first edition of the "Regne Animale," which made its appearance so far back as the year 1816. With respect to that translation, it is not necessary that we should dwell upon it farther than to observe, that it is the version of a work which may now be deemed to be completely superseded. The great French author himself, indeed, has acknowledged the imperfections of his first edition, as compared with the last, which is now enriched with the results of labours, whereby, during the interval of twelve years, an immense progress is declared by Cuvier to have been effected in this science. It is scarcely necessary to add, that no part of those labours, and no portion of that improvement, failed to be examined by this indefatigable naturalist. His connection with the government of France, his reputation throughout Europe, and his consequent unbounded facilities of communication with fellow-labourers in all quarters of the globe, gave to Cuvier opportunities of procuring information of new facts, or corrections of former errors, such as could not be accessible to almost any other individual. From considering these facts, the reader will not fail to conclude that a difference, to no small amount, must necessarily exist between the former and the latter edition of the "Animal Kingdom;" nor will he, upon due examination, be prepared to deny that the latter is essentially a new and distinct work, from the number of alterations and improvements which have been incorporated with it. Cuvier records, with die most grateful expressions, his sense of the value of the information derived by him from the vast number of faithfully executed figures in Natural History which were supplied by recent travellers. The difficulties presented in the arrangement of the synonymes in the nomenclature of animals were also found by our great author very seriously diminished when he came to prepare the second edition of his "Regne Animale." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.