88 On the Study of Natural History, 



utterly unkno"\vn, in this country, for many years, so completely 

 was true science lost sight of in an overweening attachment to 

 Linnsean and Fabrician nomenclature. In later times, the ex- 

 tensive observations made by Le Vaillant on the birds of Africa, 

 and the still more delightful volumes of Wilson on those of Ame- 

 rica, have invested this department with an interest it never 

 before possessed. 



But enough has been said to prove, first, that a very import- 

 ant and a very interesting department of the science can be 

 prosecuted without the aid of either libraries or collections, or 

 without the study of systems or names. Secondly, that the 

 most minute details in the economy of animals should not be 

 overlooked as trivial or unimportant. And, thirdly, that those 

 who have pursued this path have conferred lasting benefits upon 

 natural science. 



It is unnecessary for me, in this place, to expatiate upon the 

 peculiar interest that attaches to natural history, even when 

 pursued as a mere recreation, or without any view of benefiting 

 others by our observations : the interest which it gives to a sum- 

 mer's walk or to a turn in the garden, the habits of quick obser- 

 vation which it excites in the youthful mind, or the expansion 

 it gives to the heart in more mature life, — all these, and many 

 more of its attractions, have been enlarged and illustrated by 

 abler pens than mine. The study of Nature is opposed to the 

 study of man, chiefly in this respect ; that the first presents 

 eveiything that is pure, lovely, and ** of good report,'' while the 

 latter is continually bringing before us fraud, duplicity, violence, 

 and all those passions which, without being imbibed, insensibly 

 blunt the better feelings of our nature. 



But if all these arguments should fail, and people will only be 

 induced to take an interest in things which affect their immediate 

 comforts, we shall find that some acquaintance with natural 

 history is not only useful, but sometimes essential to the direct 

 interests of a large portion of the community. There is no one 

 class in whose success the interests of mankind are so much 

 involved as in that of the agricultural. By this I mean, that, as 

 food is the first necessary of life, eveiy question which concerns 

 its production deserves \ery serious attention. Now it is well 

 known, that every year some unexpected failure of crops, origi- 



