299 Address delivered at the sixth and last 
original genius opened to the lovers of nature a new field of 
instruction and delight ;-—— but his spirit, his talent, and his 
fidelity of expression are preserved to the rising generation 
in the compositions of his friend and pupil, Mr. William 
Harvey. 
The beneficial results of this accurate mode of supplying 
us with the groundwork of our science do not terminate in 
the superior excellence of the description itself. The modern 
naturalist, finding a firm foundation for his speculations in the 
authenticity of the materials thus brought within his reach, 
and encouraged by the number of the subjects with which the 
increasing spirit of research has supplied him, is enabled to 
turn four the mechanical details of his art to the contempla- 
tion of its sublimer beauties. He has surmounted the first 
necessary steps of his ascent, — all the petty technicalities of 
nomenclature, — all the minute particulars that attend the 
determination of species ; — and standing on the high vantage- 
ground of true philosophy, he can now give way to ‘the investi- 
eation of general truths. It is not thes mere characters of the 
isolated indiv idual that he searches out, but the relation which 
it bears to every other, and the part which it sustains, singly, 
or in combination with all, in the great scheme of che crea- 
tion. Under the guidance of such “enlarged views, the mind 
is led forward to conclusions of the highest import, attaining, 
by degrees, an occasional glance of the system of Nature her 
self, Whatever may be the process by which her laws are 
sought out, whatever the artificial mode by which the know- 
ledge of observed facts is communicated, they all unite in 
aiming at the discovery and elucidation of ‘that true and only 
system. 
The comprehensiveness of the views, which thus forms the 
distinguishing feature of our present school of zoology, has 
not passed w vithout reproach; and many sneers, it must be 
confessed, have been cast, more particularly by some of the 
minor critics of the French schools, upon our British theo- 
rists. These cavillers have forgotten that they have themselves 
had to boast of a Buffon and a Cuvier; and that the philoso- 
phising spirit of enquiry of which I speak, although followed 
up in this country with a zeal far exceeding their own, to their 
credit be it spoken, originated with themselves. But we do 
not shrink from the imputation. We rather appropriate to 
ourselves the title of theorists with gladness. I know, in fact, 
no undertaking of excellence, that has not owed its existence 
to some great ‘and preconceived theory. It was the glimpse 
of some great truth, that first tempted the enthusiast into the 
thorny paths of enquiry, that supported his zeal and enlight- 
