SCIENTIFIC AM) POI'CLAR VIKWS OF NATURE 

 CONTRASTED. 



Lecture (Iclivircil in the National Museum, W.ishinj^ton. I). C. March ii. 1882, 

 l>v Prof. TiiKo. Gii.i . 



LaDI KS a M • (I KN IIJCM KN : 



I feci lotli to (oniiiu'iici- my Icctinf iiltcr the flattering 

 introdiKticui of Major Powvll, for ho has led yon to expect 

 more thiui yon will rocoivc. and to believe that what you 

 receive will 1m- adorned with the uraees of oratory ; but this, 

 I assure you. will not be the case. At the out.set, I shall be 

 obli<ied to e.\))lain as to the title of the lecture of the after- 

 noon. A title had to be given, and that title had to be 

 pith> . Exactly what ground is to be covered is not, however, 

 evident from it. What 1 do i>ropose is to treat of a very 

 limited field, and in a very plain and conversational manner 

 discourse concerning those relations which exist Ijotween 

 certain groups of animals, and the opposite phases under 

 which they are contemplated by the .scientific mind on the 

 one hand, and by the [)oj)ular mind on the other. In doing 

 tiiis I shall take concreU- examples, and, after considering 

 the animals adduced, derive; from the facts presented some 

 deductions which aj.pear to be legitimate. I will now^ only 

 anticipate by the statement that the dictum, which is .so 

 prevalent in morals and social life — not to trust to appear- 

 ances — is equally true for and applicable to the animal and 

 vegetable kingdoms. The popuhn- mind in.stinctively clas- 

 sities animals according to external manifestations and adap- 

 tations, and especially with reference to the elements in 

 which they live, be it earth, water, or air. This system of 

 ela.ssification i.s, perhaps, almo.st coeval with the intellectual 

 history of our race. Over eighteen centuries ago Ovid, the 

 Latin poet, gave expression to such ifleas in the first book 

 of his Metamorpho.^es which I beg to recall to vou in 

 Dryden's version ; 



•' IJefore the seas and this terre>trial h.ill. 

 .\ncl heaven's high canopy that covers all, 

 ( )ne wa.s the face of nature ; if .i fcce : 

 Rather a nulc and undigested mass : 



