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 



