Anniversary Meeting of the Zoological Club. 221 



registering of species, a strictness and a clearness of expression 

 have taken place among naturalists which almost assumes the 

 merit of originality. No materials are presumed to be genuine, 

 no species allowed to pass current, which have not undergone 

 the ordeal of accurate examination. Striking is the contrast 

 here exhibited with the catalogues of earlier days, where spe- 

 cies fabricated from the hearsay of travellers, from mutilated 

 fragments of specimens, or from rude and unauthenticated 

 representations, were handed down with " all their imperfec- 

 tions on their heads " from one generation of compilers to 

 another. Nor is it sufficient, in the present state of science, 

 to look alone to the superficies of the object described. No 

 character is neglected in the examination, internal or external. 

 Comparative anatomy and physiology lend their aid to the 

 true discrimination of species. And it is only by a strict observ- 

 ation of every part of its structure, added to an acquaintance 

 with its economy and geographical distribution, that a modern 

 zoologist considers any species which he undertakes to de- 

 scribe, as entitled to rank among the legitimate accessions to 

 science. 



The same scientific accuracy which attends the description 

 of the naturalist extends equally to the representations of the 

 artist : and no stronger proof can be adduced of the advance- 

 ment of our science, than the contrast exhibited between the 

 illustrative plates of former days and those of the present. It 

 is but justice to our Continental neighbours, to acknowledge 

 that they first led the way to this improvement, and have ably 

 maintained the perfection which they introduced. But those 

 naturalists of our own country who have happily blended the 

 character of the artist with that of the man of science, need 

 not shrink from the comparison of their own labours with the 

 proudest of the foreign productions. I cite, as proofs of my 

 assertion, the plates of Mr. Selby, Sir William Jardine, and 

 Mr. Audubon, in ornithology ; of Mr. Swainson, in various de- 

 partments of animal life ; of the Messrs. Curtis, in entomology ; 

 and the Messrs. Sowerby, in shells. So faithful, so truly repre- 

 sentative of nature, are the products of their pencils, that the 

 student may apply to them for scientific instruction with 

 almost equal reliance as to the subjects from which they are 

 copied. I have mentioned the names of professed natural- 

 ists. But, even among the votaries of the art who have not 

 made natural history their exclusive study, we find indivi- 

 duals emulating the strictness of science. It is sufficient to 

 mention the name of the Landseers, to convey to you the idea 

 of all that is faithful as well as striking in the representation 

 of nature. Bewick is recently lost to us, — Bewick, whose 



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