34 ON THE STUDY DF ZOOLOGY 



grand objects entertained by the Court of this College ; — I 

 mean the diffusion, throughout our body, and particularly 

 among its rising members, of a taste for all the auxiliary 

 pursuits which are capable of lending to our profession 

 either essential aid, or graceful ornament ; the cultivation 

 of surgery as a science; and the securing for its honourable 

 practitioners that rank in society, and that public regard, 

 which are the just meed of liberal pursuits directed to the 

 attainment of useful public ends. 



As the riches of our collection are more calculated for 

 the leisure and deliberate survey of a visit to the Museum, 

 than for the distant and hasty exhibitions of this theatre, 

 I shall preface the demonstrative part of the lectures by 

 some general discourses, which will be devoted to illustrate 

 the aim and utility of zoology in general, and of compara- 

 tive anatomy in particular — their relations to physiology, 

 and to the sciences more immediately connected with our 

 practical pursuits — and the general principles, which are to 

 be kept in view in cultivating these branches of knowledge. 

 If, in this course, I should enter on topics which have been 

 already brought under your review this season, my apology 

 must be, that my arrangements were made before my wor- 

 thy colleague had begun his lectures, and that amputation 

 or dislocation of the parts in question would have been 

 troublesome, if not painful operations. 



His interesting disquisitions on various parts of compara- 

 tive anatomy were not felt by me in the light of invasion 

 or encroachment. The manor of living nature is so ample, 

 that all may be allowed to sport on it freely; the most jea- 

 lous proprietor cannot entertain any apprehension that the 

 game will be exhausted, or even perceptibly thinned : to 

 introduce any thing like the spirit of game-laws into science 

 would, if possible, exceed the oppressive cruelty and into- 

 lerable abuses of that iniquitous and execrable code. 



Having alluded to the course of lectures just finished, I 

 should not do justice to my own feelings, nor to the merits 

 of my esteemed coadjutor*, if I did not sincerely thank him 



* Ant. Carlisle, Esq. 



