492 CONCLUDING ADDRESS 



I selected the natural history of our species, because the 

 subject is very interesting, because many of the points 

 which it involves, embracing physiological questions of the 

 liighcst importance, are closely allied to our own peculiar 

 pursuits ; and because it has not yet received a due portion 

 of attention in this country. 



I hope to have convinced you that the zoological study 

 of man, when grounded on a knowledge of his organization 

 and functions, and enlightened by the analogies, the con- 

 trasts, and the various aids afforded by an acquaintance with 

 the animal kingdom in general, is the only means by which 

 a clear insight can be gained into human nature ; — into the 

 physical and moral attributes, the comparative powers, the 

 liability to change or modification of the individual, the 

 race or the variety, and consequently into the frame, capa- 

 bilities, and destiny of the species. The principles fur- 

 nished by such investigations are the safest guide in all 

 branches of knowledge, of which man in any shape is 

 the object : the only guide at least that can be trusted by 

 those who are determined to resort to nature for themselves, 

 rather than blindly adopt established doctrines, or take up 

 the ready-made notions and clever systems, so kindly 

 provided for those who are too indolent or too timid to ex- 

 ercise their own observation and reason on tliese important 

 topics. Such inquiries, I will venture to add, afford the 

 only light capable of directing us through the dark regions 

 of metaphysics, the only clue to direct our course through 

 the intricate mazes of morals. Can we hope to proceed 

 safely in legislation, in public institutions, in education, 

 without that acquaintance with the physical and moral quali- 

 ties of the subject for whose benefit they are designed, which 

 such investigations are calculated to supply ? 



1 have had occasion, in the course of the Lectures, to ex- 

 emplify the incidental elucidations, which various questions 

 in history, in antiquities, in the fine arts, may receive from 

 this quarter. Anatomy and physiology would be very in- 

 considerable branches of general knowledge, if the facts 

 which they supply were applicable merely to the illustration 

 and extension of the healini]: art. 



