84 On the Study of Natural History, 



to attain. The greatest talents are of little avail, without the 

 use of a costly library and a well-stored museum. Such 

 advantages will be seldom found ; and therefore the higher 

 departments of the science can only be prosecuted by those 

 few who possess them, and who devote their lives to this single 

 object. 



When we look to the numerous changes that have taken 

 place in systems during the last ten years, and find that another 

 revolution is now going on, we may at first be tempted to ques- 

 tion its necessity, and to complain that so much time has been 

 lost in acquiring that which must be unlearnt. But a moment's 

 reflection will show the unreasonableness of such a conclusion. 

 Natural History, like every other branch of human knowledge, 

 advances by slow but steady paces. Had Dr. Johnson lived in 

 the nineteenth century, he would not have applied the epithet 

 adamant to any system but that of nature ; which, although 

 ** unchanging and unchanged," can hardly be said to be yet 

 discovered. The truth is, that zoology is now undergoing a 

 similar revolution to that which chemistry experienced some 

 years ago. Nothing but facts are taken upon trust. l*he 

 authority of a name, however great, or the plausibility of a sys- 

 tem, however ingenious, avails nothing when unsupported by 

 such tests ; so that we now begin with doubting the solidity of 

 that basis upon which our predecessors built what they consi- 

 dered as improvements. In short. Natural History is a study 

 of facts ; and it is the right combination of these facts which 

 constitutes the true philosophy of the science. It may reason- 

 ably be supposed that, having at length chosen nature for our 

 guide, we shall make some advance towards the temple of truth ; 

 that when once those obstacles which have impeded our pro- 

 gress are cleared away, a system and a nomenclature will be 

 established, not indeed perfect, but sufficiently so to remain in 

 use, with little alteration, for the rest of our lives. 



Yet admitting this supposition to its full extent, it may still 

 be said, that only a minor difficulty has been removed. A 

 library and museum are still necessary ; for, without such aids, 

 how can we hope to investigate any portion of the eighty thou- 

 sand species of living beings already described, the thousands of 

 others that are known to exist, and the tens of thousands which, 



