226 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [CHAP. i. 



the outset, Sir Stamford Raffles directed his attention 

 more particularly to the scientific department; while Sir 

 Humphrey Davy was to look principally to its practical 

 and immediate utility to the country gentleman and the 

 farmer ; and although the Society was too soon deprived 

 by an early death of the great services of both those 

 gentlemen, they have left most able successors. Scien- 

 tific Zoology has really advanced with rapid strides ; but, 

 in spite of every effort, the practical results and available 

 importations have unfortunately been exceedingly few. 



It should also be remembered, that the Society has 

 had unprecedented means at command ; that it is com- 

 posed of noblemen and gentlemen of rank, wealth, edu- 

 cation, and ability ; that similar experiments on the do- 

 mestication of untried creatures have been concurrently 

 carried on in other establishments witness the princely 

 menageries of the Earl of Derby and of Sir Robert Heron ; 

 that it makes no secret of its proceedings and their re- 

 sults, but with a courtesy and liberality which deserve 

 the fullest acknowledgment, gladly affords every aid to 

 the naturalist who is in true and earnest search after 

 information. 



But, notwithstanding all this, it is an undeniable re- 

 proach to Ornithology, and, it must be confessed, to 

 Zoology in general, that those sciences, in the literature 

 to which they have as yet given rise, have proved of 

 little service as far as regards any suggestions respect- 

 ing what we are likely to expect and obtain from com- 

 paratively untried birds and animals. Compare them 

 with Botany and Horticulture, and it might be pro- 

 nounced, in a hasty judgment, that they ought to retire 

 abashed. From Botany and Horticulture we have in 

 recent times derived wholesome and substantial vegeta- 



