{"product_id":"2940016237275","title":"A Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Hemisphere","description":"ON the return of the second vessel belonging to this expedition, a preliminary report was presented to the Institute, describing the riches which she had brought for the Museum of Natural History. Other particulars were afterwards published, of the discoveries which this expedition has effected in geography, botany, and mineralogy.\u003cbr\u003eBut as the subjects of zoology and anthropology are not yet perfectly arranged, though all the descriptions are revised and ready for the press, Messrs. PERON and LESUEUR have requested the Class to examine the state of their labours, and it has imposed this task upon us.\u003cbr\u003eOf the five zoologists appointed by the government, two remained in the Isle of France: two others who were taken ill at Timor, died through the fatigues of the second campaign, before they were able to reach, as it were, the shores which they were to explore. M. PERON being, therefore, the only one of his colleagues who was left, redoubled his zeal and activity. M. LESUEUR joined his efforts with those of his friend, and by the exertions of both, was prepared the valuable zoological collection which we now possess. More than one hundred thousand specimens of animals, large and small, are contained in it; amongst which are several important genera. There are also many more to be described, and the number of new species, according to the report of the professors of the museum, is upwards of two thousand five hundred. Thus by referring to the amount of those discovered by COOK, in his second voyage; as well as CARTERET, WALLIS, FURNEAUX, MEARS, and even VANCOUVER, we shall find that Messrs. PERON and LESUEUR alone, have discovered more new animals than all the naturalist voyagers of our times.\u003cbr\u003eOwing to an irregular or false method of description, which has been introduced into science, its progress has been much retarded. Travellers, and particularly some of those of the school of LINNÆUS have adopted it as more expeditious, and easy; the consequence has been, that they Lave only acquired relative descriptions, scarcely sufficient for scientific explanations at the epoch when they studied, and which become the more useless in proportion as new subjects are discovered:—M. PERON knew how to get over this error. His descriptions, according with a constant and regular plan which had been formed, embrace all the details of the exterior organization of the animal, explain all Its characters in an absolute manner, and will, in consequence, survive all the revolutions of methods and of systems.\u003cbr\u003eThe manners and customs of the animals, the names given to them by the natives, the uses to which the latter apply them, and the modes of hunting or fishing which they adopt, to catch them, have also attracted the attention of our travellers. Hence, after having described a great number of new species of Holothuriæ, they prove that the animals of this class, so despised on the shores of Europe, are, in India, an interesting and advantageous article of commerce. Numerous fleets of Indian ships annually employ several thousand men in the preparation, or rather desiccation of these animals. Whole cargoes of them are put up, and from the burning shores to the north of New Holland, they are transported at a great expence, to China, where old people purchase them with avidity, under the idea that they impart new vigour to their exhausted constitutions.\u003cbr\u003eEqually interesting are M. PERON's descriptions of the numerous Phocæ and cetaceous animals of the Southern Ocean; for which we shall refer the reader to the text of his volume. His labours have been ably seconded by the ingenuity of M. LESUEUR, who, with extreme care, has produced no less than fifteen hundred drawings or paintings of the subjects collected by his colleague.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47081200287984,"sku":"2940016237275","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940016237275_p0.jpg?v=1763631489","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016237275","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}