40 OBJECTIONS ANS iVERED. 



ed by them. For want of this kind of information me- 

 dical men run the risk of confounding- diseases per- 

 fectly distinct, at least as to the animal that causes 

 them. It would be a most desirable thing to have pro- 

 fessors in each branch of Natural History in our uni- 

 versities, and to make it indispensable, in order to the 

 obtaining- of any degree in Physic, that the candidate 

 should have attended these lectures. We may judge 

 from the eood effects that the arts have derived from 

 the present very general attention to Chemistry, how 

 beneficial w ould be the consequence if Entomology 

 were equally cultivated : and I shall conclude this para- 

 graph witli what I think jnay be laid down as an incon- 

 trovertible axiom : — That the profit we derive from 

 the works of creation will be in proportion to the accu- 

 racy of our knowledge of them and their properties. 



1 trust I have now said enough to convince you and 

 every thinking man that the study of insects, so far 

 from being vain, idle, trilling, or unprofitable, may be 

 attended with very important advantages to mankind, 

 and ought at least to be placed upon a level with many 

 other branches of science, against which such accusa- 

 tions are never alleged. 



But I must not conceal from you that there are ob- 

 jectors who w ill still return to tlie charge. They will 

 say, "We admit that the pursuits of the entomologist 

 are important when he directs his views to the destruc- 

 tion of noxious insects; the discovery of new ones 

 likely to prove beneficial to man ; and to practical ex- 

 periments upon their medical and economical proper- 

 ties. But where are the entomologists that in fact pur* 



