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SERIES II. 



LECTURE I. 



ON ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, AND THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OP ANIMALS. 



WHILE every department of nature displays an unbounded scope to the 

 contemplative mind, a something on which it may perpetually dwell with 

 new and growing 1 delight, and new and growing improvement ; we behold in 

 the great division of the animal kingdom a combination of allurements that 

 draw us, and fix us, and fascinate us with a sort of paramount and magical 

 captivity, unknown to either of the other branches of natural history ; and 

 which seem to render them chiefly or alone desirable and interesting, in pro- 

 portion as they relate to animal life. There is, indeed, in the mineral domain, 

 an awe, and a grandeur, and a majesty, irresistibly impressive and sublime ; 

 and that cannot fail to lift up the heart to an acknowledgment of the mighty 

 Power which piled the massy cliffs upon each other, and rent the mountains 

 asunder, and flung their scattered fragments over the valleys. There is in 

 the realm of vegetables an immeasurable profusion of bounty and of beauty, 

 of every thing that can delight the external eye, and gratify the desire ; 

 simple, splendid, variegated, exquisite. But the moment we open the gates 

 of the animal kingdom a new world pours upon us, and a new train of affec- 

 tions take possession of the bosom ; it is here, for the first time, that we 

 behold the nice lineaments of feeling, motion, spontaneity ; we associate and 

 sympathize with every thing around us, we insensibly acknowledge an ap- 

 proximation (often indeed very remote, but an approximation nevertheless) 

 to our own nature, and run over with avidity the vast volume that lies before 

 us, of tastes, and customs, and manners, and propensities, and passions, and 

 Consummate instincts. 



But where sliall we commence the perusal of this volume ? the different 

 pages of which, though each intrinsically interesting, lie scattered, like the 

 sibyl leaves of antiquity, over evqry part of the globe, and require to be col- 

 lected and arranged in order, to give us a just idea of their relative excellence, 

 and to enable us to contemplate them as a whole. 



The difficulty has been felt in all ages ; and hence multiplied classifica- 

 tions, or schemes for assorting, and grouping into similar divisions, such indi- 

 viduals as indicate a similar structure, or similar habits, or similar powers, have 

 been devised in different periods of the world, and especially in modern times, in 

 which the study of zoology has been pursued with a searching spirit, unknown 

 to the sages of antiquity. Arid well has it deserved to be so pursued. " This 

 subject," observes M. Biberg, " is of so much importance, and of such an 

 extent, that if the ablest men were to attempt to treat it thoroughly, an age 

 would pass away before they could explain completely the admirable economy, 

 habits, and structure even of the most imperceptible insect. There is not a 

 single species that does not, of itself, deserve an historian."* 



Before we gird ourselves then to a critical indagation into any particular 

 part of the immense theatre which this study presents to us, it may be con- 

 venient to contemplate it upon that general survey which it is the object of 

 such schemes or classifications to lay down ; to travel over it and mark its 

 more prominent characters by a map, anterior to our entering upon the coun- 

 try itself. And such are the humble pretensions of the present lecture ; 

 which will merely attempt to place before you a brief sketch of zoology, in 



* Amcenitates Academicae Suecicse, vol. ii. art. 19, CEconomia Natune. 



