On the Study of jYatural History. 243 



to whomsoever seeks her aid. And while thus with 'no 

 calhng left, no duty broke,' he finds sympathy with the ex- 

 quisite beauty of this outward world, the student is none the 

 less, aye, I may say, he is the better fitted for other pursuits 

 that demand tlie uninterrupted attention and silence of the 

 study and closet. Were there then no higher motive, no 

 further end to be gained, than the securing of a more vigorous 

 and energetic frame, the institution of your Society would be 

 deemed sufhciently important. But I should do injustice to 

 my subje^'t, were I to admit this inference as the only tenable 

 ground for such pursuits; nor can I think that any are un- 

 mindful of other considerations connected with the researches 

 of natural history. 



"An interest in those subjects which it is the province of 

 the naturalist to investigate, will insensibly increase as they 

 are more extensively pursued. The perception of beauty, 

 order, and arrangement, belongs of right to the cultivated 

 mind. IMethinks we do great injustice to our mental facul- 

 ties when we suffer them to become insensible to these. 

 Those systems of education, therefore, wliich confine them- 

 selves to single or particular departments of human science, 

 are defective. Such has been too much the case hitherto. 

 To cast aside, as worthless, the richly illuminated pages of 

 Nature's great volume, in order the more sedulouslv to imbibe 

 the learning of past ages, or to ponder on treatises of human 

 invention, is not answering the intention of our destiny. Why 

 this inimitable harmony, this stupendous skill, this exquisite 

 design, if not for our admiration? For what end, the won- 

 drously contrived eye, and the delicately formed ear? Why 

 the nice adaptation of our organs to trace and understand the 

 laws of matter, and to receive impressions of delight? If 

 intended to be insensible to the minuter wonders of Creative 

 Power, or indifferent to the mysteries of Nature, a duller and 

 more imperfect vision and perception were enough. As to 

 the penetrating eye of the astronomer, some new world de- 

 veloping itself in space, extends the grandeur of his ideas on 

 the vastness of creation, and offers new proofs of the cor- 

 rectness of the theory of motion, and of laws which govern 

 the universe, so to the naturalist every new investigation ex- 

 tends the powers of his mind, and convinces him of the con- 

 summate design of the whole. Would we prove true, then, 

 to the purpose of our being, we should by no means become 



