NATURAL HISTORY. 47 



pose, or to be rendered subservient to some still 

 greater end ; and when we advance in the scale, 

 and inquire into the human attributes, and into the 

 diversities and comprehensiveness, in all their 

 ends and purposes for which our oivn species was 

 created ; we shall then indeed find a theme wor- 

 thy of our pursuit and inquiry ; we shall at once 

 comprehend the object of creation, and we shall 

 irresistibly be impressed with those sentiments 

 of reverence and devotion, which a just and en- 

 larged contemplation of the natural world, can- 

 not fail to inspire. 



Having endeavoured to explain to you the 

 different branches of natural history with their 

 corresponding sciences, permit me again to im- 

 press on your minds the importance of a subject 

 so closely connected with every thing that is dig- 

 nified and useful, and so interwoven with the 

 wants, conveniences, and occupations of man. 

 Had it been our lot to have moved in the limited 

 sphere of other animals, and our wants and neces- 

 sities been supplied us as nature required them, 

 we then indeed, had we even possessed a con- 

 sciousness of our existence, might have been 

 satisfied with the ignorance which a situation so 

 humiliating was calculated to perpetuate. But 

 man was born for a life of activity and observa- 

 tion, to a dependanceupon his own faculties and 

 industry, and to be placed in situations in which 

 the best powers of his mind were to be called 



