PREFACE 5 



fresh territories from the unknown. This Department 

 would not be doing its duty to the University, to the 

 memory of its Founder, and to that of the first Hope 

 Professor, if some advance were not made in that part of 

 the boundaries of knowledge which stands opposite to it. 

 I would that every College, and every University depart- 

 ment, felt this responsibility as keenly as it is felt in 

 a happily increasing number of Oxford laboratories and 

 scientific departments. I do not wish to be misunderstood 

 in making these high claims for the exponents of the 

 natural and physical sciences. Our scientific men are 

 fighting side by side with the Oxford students of other 

 branches of learning. The interests of the ancient studies 

 in Oxford are sometimes supposed to conflict with the more 

 modern. But the real contest is between those who would 

 and those who would not devote their energies to widening 

 the boundaries of knowledge, and there can be nothing but 

 comradeship and the warmest sympathy among the men 

 whose keenest efforts are put forth in order that Oxford 

 may be known far and wide as a centre of research and 

 learning. 



EDWx^RD B. POULTON. 



Hope Department of Zoology, 



University Museum, Oxford, 



January 4, 1901. 



