RISE AND PROGRESS OT ZOOLOGY. XV 



It is entirely owing to the study of such re- 

 mains, that any rational ideas respecting the 

 theory of the earth have been obtained. They 

 alone have enabled philosophers to determine 

 with anything like certainty, the aeras of the 

 formation of the different strata which compose 

 our globe, and the consequent age of the earth 

 itself. 



Finally, the Zoologist has need of the 

 knowledge of languages, and will succeed but 

 indifferently in the philosophy of his science, 

 without a competent familiarity with the philo- 

 sophy of the human mind. 



Another, and a striking advantage of this 

 science on the mind of the student, is the 

 habit which it induces, of arranging ideas 

 with method and precision. From a study 

 of the various systems of Naturalists, it must 

 infallibly result? that a principle of order and 

 natural connexion, will be introduced into our 

 thoughts on every other subject. It is im- 

 possible that a long and close attention to any 

 one systematic pursuit, will not produce a ten- 

 dency to a systematic accuracy in every other; 

 and, perhaps, in this point of view, the study of 

 Zoology is inferior to no other, not even Mathe- 

 matics itself excepted. 



The object of Zoology, as a science, is to 



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