136 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
then, indeed, economic natural history need not be 
studied. But how far from this is the real fact! In 
regard to the qualities of animals, indeed, we cannot 
hope for any new discovery of importance. Though 
even on this point we need not despair; seeing that, 
but a few years ago, vaccination was unknown to us ; 
and that it would have been deemed chimerical to 
assert that the cow had a property which would save 
millions of lives. We require not any increase to 
the number of our domesticated animals, for nature 
has bountifully made known to us all the races that 
we require; the horse for labour, the ox for food, 
and the sheep for clothing. It would be curious, 
indeed, though not very desirable, to see the camel, 
the elephant, or the reindeer, acclimated and breed- 
ing among us; but what practical good would result 
from this, may reasonably be questioned ; while the 
evil of devoting tracts of ground to feed such bulky 
animals, at a time when the produce of our soil will 
not supply its human inhabitants, is sufficiently 
obvious. It may, in truth, be considered a fortunate 
circumstance for the nation, that the Zoological 
Society, originally formed for these very purposes, 
has not succeeded in a single instance, as it is said, 
after many years, in acclimating one race of foreign 
animals, either useful or ornamental. 
- (82.) The practical uses of natural history are 
not, however, restricted to such matters. A merchant 
who trades to a distant country must first inform 
himself on the nature of its productions — whether 
animal, vegetable, or mineral — that he may know 
what to send, and what he can receive. When, as 
