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In the earl}' ages zoology was forced upon the con- 

 sideration of man by his exposed condition and his 

 wants. He was compelled to defend himself against 

 ferocious beasts of prey ; to domesticate the most docile 

 and intelligent animals to aid him in his labors, and to 

 hunt and destroy others for food and raiment. For these 

 purposes he had to study the habits of beasts, birds, and 

 fishes, and investigations, originating in necessity, gra- 

 dually extended into a science. This study furnishes 

 one of the most useful and instructive occupations for 

 the mind. 



Every branch of this science is of the highest interest, 

 from the zoophites, the lowest order of animated crea- 

 tion, to thevertebrated animals, including man, the high- 

 est of the works of the Creator. The study of the phy- 

 sical structure and moral development of man is most 

 curious and instructive, whether we trace him from the 

 simple child of the forest to the perfection of his spe- 

 cies, which he has reached by the cultivation of the arts 

 of life and by the light of religion; whether we regard 

 the circumstances which, in some situations, confine him 

 to the hunter, or to the pastoral state, while, in others, 

 they permit the full development of all his faculties as 

 an agriculturist ; or whether we contemplate the va- 

 rieties of the species, from the Caucasian, from which 

 we claim descent, to the American, the Mongolian, or 

 the African. The uses of these studies, independently 

 of the enjoyment their pursuit affords, are to be found 

 in ministering to the wants and pleasures of man, and 

 in prolonging his existence ; for it cannot be doubted 

 that the investigation of the comparative anatomy of 

 inferior animals has contributed to a more perfect know- 



