Anniversary Address, 61 



the study of Natural History. That Aristotle had a great share 

 in drawing the mind closer to the contemplation of the myste- 

 ries of animate and inanimate nature, than was previously the 

 case, is an undoubted fact. But with whom originated the study ? 



When Aristotle was charged, by envious contemporaries, with 

 deriving some of his knowledge from Democritus, Empedocles, 

 and Pythagoras, he admitted it. But whence had they their 

 information ? Pythagoras acknowledged that much of his uns- 

 dom came from Egypt and the East. Can we then discover 

 vestiges of the science of Natural History in that region of the 

 East where we should most wish to find it ? — in the Holy Land ? 

 Yes: five or six hundred years before Pythagoras, Solomon 

 "spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon even 

 unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall : he spake also of 

 beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes." 

 (1 Kings, iv. 33.) Natural History therefore was cultivated in 

 the Holy Land, where the oracles of Divine Revelation were pre- 

 served. The knowledge of the great Lawgiver of the Jews in 

 that department of science must have been very considerable, to 

 judge from his accurate acquaintance with the organization of 

 animals. Witness his notices in the Book of Leviticus, of the 

 characteristics, nature, and properties of animals. 



Job, whose writings were collected by Moses, has left on record 

 proofs of his familiarity with the kingdoms of nature. Antedilu- 

 vian knowledge must have been more extensive than we are in the 

 habit of considering, from the very fact of the long lives of the an- 

 tediluvian patriarchs. Their opportunities of observation, through 

 centuries of existence, gave them an advantage over all others of 

 human kind who came after them. But another consideration 

 adds weight to the conjecture I am venturing to submit to you. 

 Many of-^them were enlightened, and directed to paths of wis- 

 dom, by the All-wise Himself. Adam could not have spoken any 

 language had he not been taught by the Creator, and it is di- 

 stinctly told us, that under the divine instruction, '' Adam gave 

 names to all cattle, and to the fowls of the air, and to every beast 

 of the field.'' 



Every Hebrew word for a thing or person is a definition; 

 every Hebrew name is a description ; therefore we conclude that 

 Adam was made acquainted by God Himself with the properties 

 and natiu'c of the animal kingdom, or he could not have given 



