12 INTRODUCTION. 



its uses can be discovered, are passed over, and the 

 attention is directed to some freak or accidental circum> 

 stance ; and if an animal, any trick that it may have 

 been taught by man, is far more attractive than its na- 

 tural habits, and the more that it is contrary to those 

 habits, the more is it admired and wondered at. Even 

 a stone of fanciful shape and unusual colour is picked 

 up, kept, shown, and talked about as a curiosity, by 

 those who would think their time unprofitably and 

 painfully spent, were they to study the strata of which 

 the globe is composed, with a view either to the know- 

 ledge of its present state, or the elucidation of its past 

 history : just as if that which can communicate no 

 knowledge and lead to no use, were more valuable than 

 that which is fraught with the profoundest wisdom, and 

 leads to the greatest practical utility. 



These are formidable barriers ; but the case is not 

 in itself so bad as, from the mere contemplation of 

 them, it would appear. They are, no doubt, obstacles 

 in the path to knowledge, but fortunately they are in 

 the by-path only. They render access to the copy a 

 good deal more difficult and uninviting than it other- 

 wise would be, but the original is as open to the public 

 as ever. The best system that man can invent, and 

 the best descriptions that he can give, with all the helps 

 of painting, engraving, or prepared specimens, are no- 

 thing to nature itself. The form may be fine, and the 

 colouring beautiful ; and we may admire the mould of 

 the one and the tints of the other ; but the charm is 

 not there life, that mysterious impulse, which moulded 

 the form, painted the colours, and caused that which 

 runs in all to assume certain characters and perform 



