48 MEMOIR OF CAMPER, 



Other papers on the subject were published by him 

 from time to time ; and we apprehend, that, on the 

 most critical investigation, no one can deny to him 

 that fair fame which he here claims as a discoverer. 



Along with the memoir just alluded to, Camper 

 transmitted to the Academic des Sciences other pa- 

 pers on natural history. One was on the anato- 

 mical structure of the Peccari, a peculiar animal of 

 the hog family ; and another on the structure of the 

 Ant-eater (fourmilier) of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 the existence of which had previously been doubted 

 by Buffon. About the same time, he sent to the 

 Society at Haarlem a memoir On the Organ of 

 Hearing in the Whale, and another on the Por- 

 poise. 



We have already mentioned, that, when Camper 

 removed to Groningen in 1763, to undertake the 

 duties of Professor in the University, he was shortly 

 afterwards appointed to the office of Physician to 

 the City. As many may be unacquainted with the 

 nature of this appointment, inasmuch as nothing si- 

 milar exists in this country, it may be right to re- 

 mark, that in several of the continental states, it has 

 long been the practice for the general government, 

 or the municipal rulers, to select one or more me- 

 dical men of eminence, to whom, in all emergencies 

 affecting the public health, they are in the habit of 

 applying for counsel ; and a part of whose duty it 

 is to keep a watchful eye on every thing that en- 

 dangers or threatens the public safety : they con* 



