10 



■would go into active life better fitted for those peaceful professions 

 to which ere long they must be confined " Had he lived to see the 

 happy increase of aquariums, he might have added that their popu- 

 larity would be shared by museums, whenever a knowledge of the 

 subject had become sufficiently extended and practised. 



Scholastic Value of Natural History. — But iu advocating the 

 interest and instruction of the biological sciences, and asserting 

 theii' especial excellence in awaking- and training the minds of 

 young persons to observation and reflection on the works of the 

 Creator, thereby delightftdly and beneficially exercising the 

 reasoning faculties, your Committee would wish to avoid the too 

 common error of injiu-ing a good cause by attempting to prove 

 too much. For the present, knowledge of organic or living 

 natiu-e is, and long will be, in a very fluctuating and progressive 

 state ; and however this may increase its interest, it so diminishes 

 its value in mental training as to give place in this respect to the 

 exact sciences and fixed languages. With these the contrast is 

 remarkable of such vexed questions as those concerning the 

 earliest zoological fossil, Eozoon, and the latest and most extended 

 animal, Bathjhius, said on the highest authority to be "ready for 

 development in any direction," but now consigned to the limbo 

 of error, and likely to be followed thither by several wild bio- 

 logical speculations. Nor are the continual and vexatious 

 changes in natural history systems and nomenclatiu-e less ob- 

 jectionable in scholastic work. But the mistakes and perplexities 

 in the sciences of natural history are no argument against their 

 importance, and of their value in education — as opposed to mere 

 instruction — though fairly to be considered when it is lu-gently 

 proposed to displace or altogether supersede by these sciences 

 the time-honoured subjects of school tuition. 



Extirpation of Rare Animals and Plants. — This objection, often 

 faii'ly ui'ged against natural history societies, is not applicable to 

 the East Kent Society. Its members generally, in co-operation 

 with yoTU- Committee, have always endeavoiu-ed to preserve our 

 local fauna and flora, and accordingly have never offered prizes 

 for the " best collection" of either plants or animals ; and though 

 this jiractiee has been encouraged by several other societies, yoiu' 

 Committee have steadily discountenanced it. And your Com- 

 mittee believe that, if the questionable course be pursued of 

 trying to induce young persons to study natural history by 

 pecuniary rewards, this could be best efl'ected by means that 

 would spare rare species. Thus, instead of favouring their des- 

 truction by premiums, like the rewards of our forefathers for 

 wolves' heads, the diligence and attainments of young' persons 

 might be better excited and tried by inducing them to study the 

 nature and economy of common or even noxious animals and 

 plants. For examples, the specific characters of the Eoses, 



