In vain did he try to suppress it; and, according to tradition, having wasted his fortune in vain attempts to buy up all the copies of it, and being taunted by the rivals whom he had thought to overwhelm, he died of chagrin.

Even death did not end his misfortunes.

The copies of the first edition having been sold by a graceless descendant to a Leipsic bookseller, a second edition was brought out under a new title, and this, too, is now much sought as a precious memorial of human credulity.( 140) (139) See Beringer's Lithographiae, etc., p.

91.
(140) See Carus, Geschichte der Zoologie, Munich, 1872, p.

467, note, and Reusch, Bibel und Natur, p.197.A list of authorities upon this episode, with the text of one of the epigrams circulated at poor Beringer's expense, is given by Dr.Reuss in the Serapeum for 1852, p.
203.