CHAPTER XX. 

 SCIENTIFIC LABORS. 



AN EXAMINATION OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GENERA AND 

 SPECIES AN EXAMINATION OF PROF. AGASSIZ' "NATURAL 

 PROVINCES." HUMBOLDT'S LETTER DESTROYED LETTER 

 FROM HENRY R. 8CHOOLCRAFT, INDIAN COMMISSIONER. 



THE opening sentences of the following Mono- 

 graph indicate the progress made in the study 

 of Natural Histor} r during forty years from 1795 

 to 1855. Referring to his boyhood, Dr. Bachman 

 tells us of the prejudices then entertained by the com- 

 munity against the supposed trifling study of Natural 

 History ; but in 1855 he asserts : The advantages 

 to be derived from the study of Natural History are 

 now admitted by every intelligent mind. 



From boyhood an enthusiast in Natural History 

 and kindred branches of science, we find him always 

 in full sympathy with every patient student of Na- 

 ture, and holding out the hand of friendship to the 

 humblest seeker after truth. But at the same time 

 ready, with ungloved hand, to rebuke the temerity 

 of the tyro, who paraded his little learning. 



An examination of the Characteristics of Genera and 

 Species, as applicable to the Doctrine of the Unity of 

 the Human Race. 



So many advantages are derived from the study 

 of Natural History, that at the present day it 

 would be almost superfluous to do more than briefly 



