364? STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



That such a reproach should belong more especially 

 to the students of zoology in this country, is but the 

 necessary result of the evils they have to encounter; 

 and we accordingly find the accomplished author, 

 just alluded to, writing as follows : — " English na- 

 turalists appear to me, from various causes, to have 

 pursued the nomenclature and examination of species 

 in such a way as very much to exclude from their 

 attention the higher ends of science." In the mean 

 time, cheap compilations are found so profitable, that 

 naturalists, who once shone as original authorities, 

 and are associated with legitimate science, have 

 abandoned such a thankless office; and, drawn away 

 by the lucre of profit, lend their names to speculating 

 booksellers, and assume a station corresponding to 

 the depressed state of British science. Such results, 

 although they may be deplored, are not to be won- 

 dered at ; " We have had," continues Mr. Bicheno, 

 " our Rays, and Listers, and Hunters ; but the suc- 

 cessful application of our industry has made us a 

 nation of calculators and economists, and, it is to be 

 feared, has almost extinguished that chivalrous spirit 

 inherent to man, that reaps its reward from the 

 honour of the cause in which it is engaged. " The 

 criterion of value of every thing in England," con- 

 tinues this able writer, " is" its marketable price ; 

 until the highest stations in the state, and the most 

 honourable conditions of inferior society are mea- 

 sured by their stipend."* It is therefore too much, 

 perhaps, for us to expect, that, in the present state 



* Address delivered at the Zoological Club of the Linn. 

 Society. 1826. By J. E. Bicheno, Esq. Sec. L. S. 



