Clifton College Scientific Society. 55 



Mera. ; one hundred and sixty plants for the Botanic Garden, by 

 Mr John Nelson, Stapleton Nursery ; a hedgehog [Erinaceus 

 Europaeus), by C. S. Penny. 



On the proposition of the Rev. Jos. Greene, the President 

 consented to draw up an account of the Conversazione for the 

 Transactions. 



F. H. D. Powell then read the following paj^er on 



M.\N. 



My intention this evening is merely to call your attention to 

 some of the most important features of this interesting subject, 

 as a full examination of everything belonging to the human species 

 would include nearly all that is curious in nature or interesting 

 and useful in science. Of all the objects which nature presents 

 to our observation, tliere is none that so powerfully demands our 

 attention ; none, indeed, with which it so much concerns us to be 

 intimately acquainted as man. If we admit that he is the only 

 being possessed with reason, there is no otlier creature which can 

 for a moment be brought into competition with liim. Of those 

 writers who treat directly of man, the philosopher and the moralist 

 consider him in the abstract ; the geographer desci'ibes him as he 

 exists in communities ; the historian traces the origin of society, 

 the progress of man in arts, civilisation, refinement, and the 

 changes which have taken place amongst the human species from 

 the ambition of kings, physical causes, and others too numerous 

 to mention ; the biographer ti'eats of man as an individual, and 

 exhibits the effects of exalted virtue, eminent abilities, or striking 

 vices. It is the business of the naturalist to describe the external 

 form of man, as it differs from that of other animals. 



The natural history of man, in its most comprehensive sense, 

 constitutes a subject of immense extent and endless variety, one, 

 indeed, which would demand a familiar acquaintance with almost 

 the whole circle of human knowledge, and a combination of the 

 most opposite talents and pursuits. But this labour, much too 

 extensive to be executed by any individual, is divided into subor- 

 dinate branches. The anatomist and physiologist unfold the uses 

 of the corporal mechanism; the surgeon and the physician describe 

 its diseases ; the metaphysician and moralist occupy themselves 

 with the functions of mind, and with moral sentiments. It would 

 be somewhat wearisome to take the structure of man in detail, so 

 we will pass on to a more interesting portion of the subject. It 

 has justly been observed, that the human countenance is the 

 mirror of the mind. In the looks of no animal are the expressions 

 of passion painted with such energy, or with such gentle shades 



