60 Anniversary Address. 



curately than many who went before him, or have come after 

 him in the same path, and he was able to establish a real differ- 

 ence between objects which his divisions of natural history were 

 meant to distinguish. 



It may be worth while to remind you, that among the obser- 

 vations of this Father of natural history, he noticed, that animals 

 were more ferocious in Asia, stronger in Europe, and of more 

 varied forms in Africa ; that they were more mischievous in 

 mountainous countries than in the plains, and that they were 

 fiercer in the extreme of cold and hot climates than in temperate. 



Buffon disputes some of his observations as to the age of 

 animals, but on the whole admits their accuracy. The reader 

 is carried agreeably on, amidst many rough places of Aristotle's 

 Natural History, by some amusing anecdotes, such as that of the 

 old mule who lived to the age of eighty, and became such a public 

 favourite, that it was permitted to go at large, to feed where it 

 liked, and to eat out of the baskets of grain and fruit brought to 

 the markets. 



I cannot refrain from mentioning that Aristotle directed at- 

 tention to the same wonderful part of man's organization, his 

 hand, and its exquisite touch, which formed the subject of one of 

 the Bridgewater Treatises. Aristotle ascribed to the sensibilities 

 of the hand, much of man's superiority over other animals, but he 

 failed in his opportunity of making a wise theological application 

 of this truth. His theology was not a branch of science which 

 he pursued in a manner deserving of our commendation, although, 

 strange to say, a portion of his works used to be read in the 

 churches of Germany during the middle ages, instead of the 

 Gospels ! Luther said of him, " Whoever wishes to philosophize 

 with Aristotle must first be stultified in Christ:'' — and yet he 

 was among the purest and most moral of ancient philosophers. 



While I am on this subject, let me mention by the way, that 

 Cuvier did honour, by his moral character, to the tendency of 

 natural philosophy to purify the mind; but Buffon often dis- 

 graced himself and his pursuits by the worse than levity of his 

 life and conversation. It is curious that in one respect there 

 was a resemblance between Aristotle and Buffon, — each of these 

 philosophers exposed himself to derision by his ridiculous fond- 

 ness for dress. 



But to return to the point from which I set out, the origin of 



