OF COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. 19 



whicli passes under the name of Buffon : and they will 

 retain this value, as the sterling coin bearing the stamp of 

 nature ever does ; while the base metal of hypothesis and 

 speculation, detected by a little wearing, is soon consigned 

 to contempt and oblivion. Daubenton therefore, although 

 the author of no work published in his own name (except 

 some papers in tlie Memoirs of the French Academy of 

 Sciences), will ever be regarded as one of the first in 

 that list of illustrious moderns, who have prosecuted the 

 study of zoology with enlarged views and on proper prin- 

 ciples. 



Camper and Pallas were contemporary with Dauben- 

 ton. Animated with the true feeling for nature, they de- 

 voted themselves to her study with that enthusiasm which 

 characterizes genius. The zoologists of Europe have as- 

 signed to them, with one accord, the highest rank in the 

 temple of Science ; and point them out with one consent, as 

 belonging to that small class who have contributed signally 

 to extend the boundaries of natural knowledge. Where 

 will any sceptical opponent of their claims find justification 

 of his dissent from the public voice so strongly expressed in 

 their favour ? Let him seek it in their works, and his doubts 

 will soon be at an end. 



Although Camper occupied at different times the chairs 

 of philosophy, anatomy, surgery, and medicine at Franeker, 

 Amsterdam, and Groningen — although he filled various civil 

 situations, and wrote on many subjects in anatomy, mid- 

 wifery, surgery, medicine, and the fine arts, he found leisure 

 for his favourite pursuits. He collected a very valuable 

 Museum in comparative anatomy, made numerous dissec- 

 tions of rare and interesting animals, and delineated their 

 structure in that simple but expressive style, in which he 

 has given us the admirable engravings of the arm and pelvis. 

 Tlie air-ceils in the bones of birds, their communications 

 and uses ; the organ of hearing in fishes and whales ; the 

 anatomy of the ourang-utang, the elephant, the rein^deer, 

 and the Surinam toad ; the organs of the voice in monkeys, 

 the head of the two-horned rhinoceros, and fossile osteo- 



c 2 



