Note 132 — LETTER I. (continued 2)

Pierre Belon (Bellonus) was a contemporary of Busbecq’s, having been born about 1518. He travelled in Greece, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor. By profession a physician, he devoted himself to the pursuit of Natural Science. He published several books, and is generally considered to have been the founder of the science of Comparative Anatomy. Busbecq corrects Belon, but his own account of the hyena is wrong. It has vertebræ in the neck, and also an array of teeth. If he had been able to procure a specimen we should have had an accurate description. The Sultana, therefore, is indirectly responsible for the errors.