A NOTICE 



OF THE 



ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES. 



THE proclivities of the present age are eminently utilitarian. 

 Before engaging in any pursuit, men wish to know in what it can 

 profit them. Immediate and direct gain is an object of common 

 desire ; hence, those vocations which promise a speedy compen- 

 sation for labor are most popular, and the paths travelled by 

 those who have been fortunate in pursuit of wealth are most 

 eagerly sought. Agriculture, the mechanic arts, and commerce, 

 which supply the wants, the comforts, and luxuries of man, 

 employ the great masses of society. A love of wealth is a 

 stronger incentive to toil than benevolence ; the fame which 

 inures to a labor unproductive of palpable remuneration stimulates 

 but few. Those branches of learning and philosophy which 

 facilitate the acquisition of wealth, attract a larger number of 

 diligent votaries than those which advantageously influence the 

 condition of society, without adding to the pecuniary profit of 

 those who pursue them. 



The utility, the beneficial influence, which natural history exer- 

 cises on the common interests of society is not commonly under- 

 stood, and, for this reason, the labors of naturalists are not very 

 generally appreciated. Indeed, a vague meaning seems to be 

 attached to the terms "natural history," and "natural sciences." 

 Unless men comprehend the meaning of these names they cannot 

 perceive the utility of, or set a value upon what they are used to 

 designate. 



Science and knowledge are not synonymous ; there may be 

 knowledge without science. Acquired facts constitute knowledge ; 

 but a science consists of any group of congenial truths or facts, 



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