XXIV. 



ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



By the President, George Eooper, F.Z.S. 



Delivered at the Annual Meeting, 20th February, 1883, at Watfurd. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, — 



The science of Natural History is at once the most important, 

 the most interesting, and the most instructive of all the sciences. 

 Bacon called it " The foundation of all human wisdom." It is, also, 

 the most universal ; for, as one of Moliere's characters talked prose 

 all his life without knoAving it, many a man, from constant and 

 accurate observation of animals, their habits and peculiarities, has 

 made himself a naturalist in the best sense of the word, though he 

 may never have studied in books, and is ignorant of technicalities 

 and scientific terms. Indeed, the study has, in the case of some 

 authors, degenerated into a parade of learning, and the name of 

 naturalist has been usui-ped by men whose sole knowledge is 

 comprised in technical phrases and defijiitions, and the power of 

 retaining in the memory the crackjaw names invented and bestowed 

 on animals and birds by persons no wiser than themselves. Still, 

 to attain proficiency in the science, it is not sufficient to watch and 

 note the habits of birds and beasts ; constant and careful reading of 

 the authors who have treated the subject is also necessary, and a 

 knowledge of the scientific nomenclature and classification must 

 be acquired. In short, study must be verified by observation, 

 observation confirmed by study. 



Books on Natural History have been my favourite reading from 

 my earliest youth, and there are few that I have not, at some time, 

 at least dipped into. I propose to-night to refer to such as have 

 most interested me, briefly and with great diffidence commenting 

 on their contents. 



"Where and with whom to commence is the question. In fact, 

 the first man was the first naturalist. "Whatsoever Adam called 

 every living creature that was the name thereof." It is recorded 

 of Solomon that " he spake of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping 

 things, and of fishes." No record of his knowledge, however, has 

 come down to us, and Aristotle may be considered the earliest 

 authority on all subjects connected with the science. He it was 

 who first investigated the relations and the differences which 

 connect and distinguish the various tribes of animals. He reduced 

 to form the chaos of detached, uncertain, and often fabulous 

 descriptions of earlier writers, with a success so amazing that to 



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