80 L.S8.C. Proceedings of the Ninth [N.S., XVII], 
Sir William Jones in his inaugural discourse to the Asiatic 
instincts, and qualities of birds, beasts, insects, reptiles, and 
fishes,” he said, ‘‘be acertained, either on the plan of Buffon, 
or on that of Linnaeus, without giving pain to the objects 
of our examination, few studies would afford us more solid 
instruction or more exquisite delight.” 
He went on to state that he could not conceive of the feel- 
ings of a naturalist who could occasion the misery of an inno- 
cent bird, ‘‘ or, deprive even a butterfly of its natural enjoy- 
ment, because it has the misfortune to be rare or beautiful.” 
He then gave the following translation of a couplet of 
Firdausi :— 
‘* Ah! spare yon emmet, rich in hoarded grain ; 
He lives with pleasure, and he dies with pain.” 
Elementary as was Sir William Jones’s concept of zoology, 
his opinion as a scholar and a poet cannot be dismissed lightly. 
There is, as the French say, nothing that kills like ridicule, 
but ridicule kills only when its object is really ridiculous. 10 
laugh at what is true and solid is merely to exhibit lack of 
sympathy and sense. 
There seems to me, however, to be some confusion of 
thought in Sir William Jones’s statement, which I have not 
quoted in full, and, moreover, he has ignored the fundamental 
ditference in the point of view of a man _ whose attitude 
the tail of his ox to believe that his motive is entirely free 
Imperial Universities open to the public once a year, an™ ”q 
provide a popular exhibition of scientific apparatus an! 
preparations. In 1915 T happened to be in a Japanse univer- 
