54 On the Economical Uses of some species of Testacea. 



branches ; and as such they are the parents and fosterers of the arts. 

 What do not the miner and the landowner owe the geologist ? — the 

 agriculturist to the zoologist and botanist ? — and every one to mine- 

 ralogy ? and yet how seldom is it that we view these pursuits in this 

 light. Were this connection more frequently reflected on, and the 

 useful results of science more generally brought to notice, we are 

 convinced that many who now neglect it would study it, as condu- 

 cing to their own progress, as well as to that of their country, in prac- 

 tical knowledge ; and those who now idly despise it, would become 

 its warm and active advocates. 



As far as regards the cultivation of our minds, the utility of the 

 science cannot be denied. It is from the contemplation of the works 

 of the Creator, that the highest and most glorious thoughts of his 

 majesty and beneficence are drawn ; it is from the observation of 

 them that we form our ideas of beauty, of elegance, or of grace ; 

 and in them we find a never-ceasing source of admiration, amuse- 

 ment, and instruction. This study enlarges the mind, in a peculiar 

 manner softens the heart, and above all, prompts to a continued de- 

 pendence on Him v^?ho " provideth the raven with his food," and 

 decks the lily with more beauty than even Solomon in all his glory 

 was possessed of. 



" No man," remarks the great Bacon, " need say that learning 

 will expulse business, but rather it will keep and defend the posses- 

 sion of the mind against idleness and pleasure, which otherwise may 

 at unawares enter in to the prejudice of both." The greatest and 

 best in all ages have been celebrated for their knowledge of and 

 love for natural history. To mention but a few — Solomon, we are told, 

 wrote a work on the subject : " of trees, from the cedar tree that is 

 in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall.... 

 of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes ;" Aris- 

 totle, the deepest and most able ethical philosopher that perhaps 

 ever existed, has left vis a large and most learned work on the same; 

 to Sir Isaac Newton, the christian is not less indebted than the phi- 

 losopher ; and in still more modern times, Cuvier is scarcely more 

 celebrated for his researches into, and classification of nature, than 

 for his political acme, general learning, and piety. But perhaps in 

 no branch of natural history has this connection been more neglected 

 than in Conchology ; the generality of our shells are comparatively 

 so minute, and their uses so seldom obvious to us, that with a very 

 few exceptions, vi^riters have altogether forgotten to mention the pur- 



