158 HEROES OF SCIENCE. 



ists, from its containing figures and descriptions of 

 animals hitherto but little known. It is read 

 at the present day, and is a proof of Pennant's 

 exactitude. Ever anxious to go on working, he 

 even in his sixty-seventh year planned an extensive 

 work which was to consider the natural history and 

 antiquities of every country in the world. He 

 absolutely did produce two great volumes of this 

 work, taking Hindostan as his subject. 



The great merit of Pennant was that he observed 

 so much and was a capital practical zoologist. 

 Moreover, his great knowledge of other things and 

 his general accomplishments enabled him to sift 

 the good from the bad zoology of his day. He 

 appears to have lived the life of a student and 

 naturalist when the kingdom was always in a 

 whirlwind of politics, and when foreign troubles pre- 

 vailed. Unlike most of his class, for he was a little 

 country squire, living on his own estate at Down- 

 ing, he devoted himself to nature, and for many 

 years his books gave great enjoyment to thousands 

 of his countrymen. They are most readable books, 

 full of anecdotes, and it is evident that he was a 

 master of his mother tongue, a great antiquary, 

 besides a naturalist of the first order. He was 

 one of the few men who followed the science of 

 zoology without having the previous education of a 

 medical man, and, like all good zoologists, he was 

 an excellent botanist. 



Some of Pennant's tours through England, Wales, 

 and Scotland are exceedingly instructive in the 



