OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 379 



volume of animal biography ? We admit, therefore, 

 that in the present state of things, the mind of a young 

 zoologist would be chiefly occupied in the minutiae 

 of his study, because, as to the science itself, he 

 would have little else to reflect upon ; he has nei- 

 ther been instructed, nor has he heard of definite 

 laws, in zoology, although he may be acquainted 

 with those of the Newtonian philosophy. But it by 

 no means follows, that because he busies himself 

 with minute details, his mind will therefore receive 

 a corresponding contraction. The least, no less than 

 the greatest of the Creator's works, possess the 

 power of exciting the loftiest ideas of his power and 

 wisdom, and while emotions such as these, fos- 

 tered by previous studies, rise in the youthful 

 breast, it is of little consequence to his happi- 

 ness, whether he is engaged in the investigation of 

 general laws, or examines, under the microscope, 

 the complicated structure of the mouth of an insect. 

 To stigmatise such pursuits, carried on with such 

 feelings, as trivial or mean, is not only folly, but 

 gross impiety. 



(260.) But natural history, it may be said, being 

 as much an intellectual as a spiritual study, cannot 

 well be made a part of university education ; inas- 

 much as its acquirement would trench upon time 

 absolutely requisite for other studies more immedi- 

 ately bearing on the active duties of life. Now, if 

 our universities were schools for commerce, manufac- 

 tories, or the practical arts, where young men were to 

 be instructed in those professions by which the great 

 machine of active society is carried on, this objection 

 might have some weight. But a moment's consider- 



