390 Linnean Society. [May 24, 



with these branches of knowledge, or evince the slightest indication 

 that they are aware of the enjoyment which they lose for themselves, 

 and of which, by their indifference or opposition, they are depriving 

 others ! Is it not true that, as a general rule, these studies are con- 

 fined for the most j^art to men engaged in the incessant duties of one 

 or other of the learned professions, and especially, from the very 

 nature of their professional education, to the practitioners of medi- 

 cine ; or to those who, though engaged in business or in rural 

 occupations, have from early associations or from a refined and pure 

 taste, sought their relaxation from toil in these calm and tranquil- 

 lizing pursuits ? 



If then the masses are ever to be influenced in that direction, the 

 question recurs, from whence is the impulse to be given, by whom 

 is the influence to be sustained ? Doubtless in a great degree by 

 those who have received their education in the great national Uni- 

 versities ; — in a word, by the representatives of our aristocracy, and 

 still more immediately and extensively by the clergy of the church, 

 who, it must be remembered, are intimately connected with educa- 

 tion in every rank of life, as the professors of colleges, the masters 

 of public and private schools, and the managers and directors of 

 every national school in the country. It is this consideration which 

 has induced me to dwell with what may perhaps be felt by some 

 a tedious prolixity, upon the importance of the Universities as the 

 great prospective sources of a general extension of the knowledge of 

 natural history. Not that I am disposed to underrate the value of 

 other appliances concurring to the same great end, but that the im- 

 portance of this means is so obviously paramount, that it forces itself 

 upon our primary consideration. 



The changes which have recently taken place in the constitution 

 of the University of Oxford, and those which are in contemplation 

 in that of the sister University, are, I humbly conceive, entirely out 

 of the sphere of my present object, but I have thought that a few 

 remarks on the progress which natural science is making there may 

 not be wholly uninteresting or useless. 



It is generally known, (and I now speak from the authority of one 

 whose position gives him the best means of correct information,) that 

 within the last few years, the facilities for studying natural history 

 at Oxford have greatly increased by the acquisition of several very 

 important collections in various branches both of botany and zoology. 

 I may particularize the splendid collection of insects and other 

 zoological specimens presented a few years since by Mr. Hope, the 

 collections of shells received from Lady Harvey and Sir Walter 



