LECTURE III 



ON ZOOLOGY. 



IN the last session 1 had the honour of reading 

 to you a paper on the vegetable kingdom ; in 

 which I endeavoured to illustrate some of its 

 leading phenomena, its importance in the eco- 

 nomy of nature, and the very comprehensive 

 utilities of which it is susceptible. I shall now 

 beg to call your attention to a much higher grade 

 in the scale of the creation, the animal kingdom, 

 the science of which has, by naturalists, been 

 denominated zoology, a greek derivative, which 

 signifies a discourse on animals. 



I will not trespass on your time in discus- 

 sing the doctrine of some modern philosophers, 

 who would wish to make it appear that animals 

 are only a superior order of vegetables ; that 

 vegetables are the intermediate bond of union 

 between animals and minerals ; and that man is 

 only the first in the graduated link of created 

 substances. I shall merely observe, that in- 

 dependently of the wide and % obvious distinction 

 between the three kingdoms of animals, vegeta- 



