PHYSIOLOGICAL ZOOLOGY. 



CHAPTER FIRST. 



THE SPHERE AND FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF 



ZOOLOGY. 



1 . ZOOLOGY is that department of Natural History which 

 relates to Animals. 



2. The enumeration and naming of the animals which 

 are found on the globe, the description of their forms, and 

 the investigation of their habits and modes of life, are the 

 principal, but not the only objects of this science. Ani- 

 mals are worthy of our regard not only in respect to the 

 variety and elegance of their forms, and their adaptation to 

 the supply of our wants ; but the Animal Kingdom, as a 

 whole, has also a still higher signification. It is the exhi- 

 bition of the divine thought, as it is carried out in one de- 

 partment of that grand whole which we call Nature ; and 

 considered as such, it teaches us the most important lessons. 



3. Man, in virtue of his twofold constitution, the spiritual 

 and the material, is qualified to comprehend Nature. Having 

 been made in the spiritual image of God, he is competent to 

 rise to the conception of His plan and purpose in the works 

 of Creation. Having also a material body, like that of ani- 

 mals, he is 'prepared to understand the mechanism of organs, 

 and to appreciate the necessities of matter, as well as the in- 

 fluence which it exerts over the intellectual element, through- 

 out the whole domain of Nature. 



4. The spirit and preparation we bring to the study of 

 Nature, is not a matter of indifference. When we would 

 study with profit a work of literature, we first endeavour to 

 make ourselves acquainted with the genius of the author ; 



B 



