Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901).djvu/405

Rh to ascertain the nature of their food, measure their skins, investigate their changes of plumage, trace their distribution, and describe their eggs, but they paid profound attention to both the muscular system of birds and their osteology. They were nothing if not thorough in their devotion to our beloved science. The attainments of these men were all the more remarkable, because for the most part they enjoyed no advantages of birth. Turner, Belon, and Gesner were all poor men, who fought their way to the front by sheer pluck and indomitable industry. Turner was born beside a Morpeth tannery about 1507; Pierre Belon belonged to some obscure household in the humble hamlet of Soulettiere, in Maine, and seems to have been about ten years junior to Turner. Conrad Gesner, a beautiful character, was born and bred in the old town of Zurich. He was born on the 26th of March, 1516. Ursus and Barbara Gesner, his parents, were plain working people. They had a large family to support upon a very meagre pittance. Ulysses Aldrovandi was of noble parentage, but he too had to learn the bitterness of trying to accomplish scientific work with an empty purse. Of dear old Turner we have already spoken at some length, but perhaps the indulgence of the reader will permit a further reference to the father of British zoology. He was a rough, rugged northcountryman—one of those blunt uncompromising men who wish to carry everything their own way, and lack patience for the views of those who differ from them. But if Turner had the misfortune to be a bigoted and determined reformer, he was thoroughly genuine in his professions, and he atoned for all errors of judgment by a life of pain and prolonged exile. His marriage with Mistress Jane Ander increased his difficulties. There is a note of pathos in the reference which is contained in one of his letters to Master Cicell: —"My chylder haue bene fed so long wt hope that they ar very leane, i wold fayne haue the fatter if it were possible."

Pierre Belon's boyhood is a sealed book, but we know that his singular ability and devotion to learning secured for him the notice of kind patrons, who freed him from occasional pecuniary embarrassments, and provided him with a sound education. He was a born traveller, and seems to have been as much at home among the Arabs of the desert as in the society of ambassadors Zool. 4th ser. vol. V., October, 1901.