CHAPTER VIII. 



Zoological Studies — Lectures on Comparative Anatomy — Knox's 

 Opinions — The iEsthetic Club — Defence of Anatomy — Lectures 

 for Jameson — 111 Healtli — On the Continent — Joints — Nerves. 



Zoology as a science seems to have found but few 

 cultivators in Britain after the death of John Hunter, 

 or they were non-demonstrative of their labours, seeing 

 that, with the exception of Yarrell, Macgillivray, and 

 others in special walks, the fourth decade had dawned 

 before the general works of Professors Grant and 

 Rymer Jones on comparative anatomy were published in 

 England. France was rich in her Daubentons, Cuviers, 

 and St. Hilaires ; and Germany ranked with France 

 in the number of her monographs and periodicals 

 devoted to natural history. England had been more 

 disposed to look at anatomy as a means to an end — 

 medical practice — than as a science in its broader 

 philosophical relations. Goodsir may be said to have 

 started with the fresh start, and grown up with the 

 strong growth of comparative anatomy ; he appeared 

 at a time when individual effort could readily assert 

 its claims, and when there was a dearth of workers in 

 a country rich in opportunities — rich in seas, rivers, 

 and unquarried palaeontology. His early love for 

 zoology never waned, but rather increased with ad- 



