LIVES 



EMINENT ZOOLOGISTS. 



Introduction. 



Remarks on the Estimation in which Natural History is held at 

 the present Dav, and on its Importance — Men are more conver- 

 sant with Nature in uncivilized Life — The original State of Man, 

 and his progressive Acquisition of Knowledge —General View of 

 the Objects of Natural Historj- : the Earth's Surface and Struc- 

 ture, the Ocean, the Atmosphere, Plants, and Animals — Defini- 

 tion of Mineralogy, Botany, and Zoology — Sketch of the Pro- 

 gress of Zoology : four Eras distinguished, as marked by the 

 Names of Aristotle, Pliny, Linnaeus, and Cuvier. 



At no period in the progress of civilisation have the 

 advantages to be derived from the study of nature 

 been so highly appreciated as at the present day, 

 when descriptions and representations of the various 

 objects by which we are surrounded, or which have 

 been observed in distant countries, are issuing from 

 the press in a variety of forms calculated to attract 

 the attention and to gratify the taste of almost every 

 class of society- Only a few years ago. Natural 

 History was held in some degree of contempt by 

 the enlightened as well as by the ignorant ; its cul- 



