1838. HOUSE— No. 72. 7 



ercise of the same powers as are employed in the detection of coun- 

 terfeit bills, in estimating correctly the difference of value between 

 two horses, or two farms, or of the degrees of guilt in two criminals 

 arraigned at the bar of justice, or the shade of difference in the mean- 

 ing of two words. The method of nature has another advantage 

 over any other, in this, that though we may be obliged to stop in our 

 inquiries at a certain point, and though we cannot now see that they 

 bear on the arts of life, or the good of the world, yet hereafter they 

 may be taken up and pursued from the point at which we leave them, 

 without having to go over the previous ground ; they may subse- 

 quently be carried out, after light has been shed on the path by some 

 kindred science, to a most valuable purpose in civilized life. 



To pursue the preceding views a step farther, we may refer to 

 the advantage of a scientific catalogue of animals, over one arranged 

 alphabetically. If, in the former, the principle of resemblance has 

 been employed to a legitimate extent, then the several groups contain 

 individuals whose external as well as internal configurations are simi- 

 lar in some of their most important features ; again, those groups or 

 families, under some distinguishing name, will follow each other in 

 some regular order, each family will be adjacent to those which it 

 most resembles, wiiile those whose resemblance is remote, will oc- 

 cupy a remote station. A system is thus formed of the series, easy 

 of reference, and in which we niay see at a glance the affinities of a 

 whole kingdom. In the latter case it is easy to see, that the alpha- 

 betic arrangement is entirely deficient in information and value, ex- 

 cept so far as names are concerned. It may be employed like a 

 dictionary of words, and therefore may be employed occasionally 

 for reference, but ought never to supersede the systematic arrange- 

 ment. 



I shall now pass from these general and somewhat desultory re- 

 marks, to the consideration of the subjects of this report. Of the 

 domestic animals I have selected the ox as the first for description. 

 The points on which I shall dwell at some length are, his natural 

 history and anatomical structure, his diseases and n)ode of cure. 

 The zoological characters of the class Mammalia, (the class of ani- 

 mals on which I am directed to report,) are the following, " Animals 

 having mammas or teats, or which suckle their young." In this class 



