26 MEMOIR OF CAMPER. 



very is unquestionable ; for, in respect to Camper, 

 it is not stated that he claims to have made the dis- 

 covery earlier than 1761, while J. Hunter's words 

 are, " Before quitting my anatomical pursuits in 

 1760, 1 had discovered the organ of hearing in fishes, 

 and had the parts exposed and preserved in spirits. 

 In some instances, the canals were injected with co- 

 loured wax, in others with metals, which, when the 

 bone was afterwards corroded, made elegant casts." 

 Camper's Essay on the Physical Education of In- 

 fants, was occasioned by the subject having been pro- 

 posed as- a prize-essay by the Society of Sciences of 

 Haarlem ; and to such challenges we shall find that 

 Camper gave a ready and usually a successful response. 

 Among the points discussed, are the clothing of in- 

 fants, their nourishment, their instruction, and, last- 

 ly, their inoculation, at that time a subject new and 

 much canvassed, and to which our author lent the 

 whole weight of his authority. When treating of 

 clothing, he alludes to the melancholy fact, of the 

 number of girls in the higher and middling classes of 

 society, who, from diseased spine, grow up deformed, 

 and shews that the deformity is scarcely to be met 

 with among rude nations, or the children of the poor. 

 He inquires into the cause, and protests, in strong 

 terms, against the excess of care and peculiarity of 

 dress which cramps and thwarts the intentions and 

 operations of nature, and urges free and unrestrained 

 exercise and activity. We ridicule, says he, the Chi- 

 nese, for maiming the feet of their female children, 



