6 LECTURE I. 



functions of pai'ticular tribes of animals 

 even more fully than Mr. Hunter himself 

 has done. I am aware, that when the 

 Count de Buffon engaged in his work on 

 natural history, he might have excited 

 Daubenton to a general investigation of the 

 structure and functions of all the varieties 

 of living beings ; and that Professor Pallas 

 might have followed the steps of Dauben- 

 ton, and traced the subject generally and 

 extensively. But, I am not apprized that 

 any systems of Comparative Anatomy and 

 Physiology were published before those of 

 Professors Blumenbach and Cuvier. Nei- 

 ther can I believe it possible, that such 

 enlarged and interesting views of the struc- 

 ture and functions of living beings in ge- 

 neral, could have been formerly contem- 

 plated and not displayed by any man 

 except by Mr. Hunter, who experienced 

 such great difficulty in communicating what 

 he knew, was never satisfied with the ex- 

 tent of his knowledge, and who cultivated 

 Physiology, only as preparatory to the still 

 more important science of Pathology. Of 

 late years, many persons have engaged in 



