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PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 

 E. A. D'Ombrain, M.B., B.S. 



On the occasion of vacating the presidential chair after my year of office I 

 would like to make a few remarks on the subject of Zoology and Zoologists. 



I have discovered that if you tell the average citizen you are interested in 

 Zoology or that you are a member of the Zoological Society, he at once assumes 

 you are connected with the securing, eaging, care and study of Lions, Tigers, 

 Snakes and rare birds and beasts generally, and foreign things in particular! 

 Indeed, one person told me he supposed that I, as President of this Society, 

 would have to do a lot of travelling in search of animals, etc ! 



It is here that I would like those who think that a Zoologist is a person with 

 a special knowledge, to know that although a Zoologist may have scientific know- 

 ledge and attainments there are many thousands who have neither, and yet by 

 virtue of their being interested in, and lovers of, natural history are actually 

 Zoologists. 



Since the earliest records of civilised man there have been those in all 

 communities who, in their way, have been Zoologists. Such people as ancient 

 historians show, were those who primarily were interested in animals (in which 

 term I include birds)', insects, reptiles, and living things generally. 



The mere fact of securing these for either sport, or use, or curiosity, shows 

 the interest such things aroused in the human mind, i.e., they were in a sense 

 embryo Zoologists. Literature of the times of the ancients (Romans and Greeks, 

 etc.), is full of references to these specimens of natural history, and naturally 

 as man's intellect increased (and desire for knowledge in consequence), so there 

 came to be those who devoted their time to the studying of appearance, habits, 

 and later, structure of the various forms of life around them, and of those 

 brought by travellers to the markets of the world. 



At this time a great amount of the so-called "knowledge" was purely imag- 

 inary and made up of travellers' tales, which were often mere inventions. Later 

 the interest increased to such an extent that "menageries" were set up, and so 

 the mass of the public, all of whom were interested in these collections, had a 

 means of satisfying their curiosity, and of increasing their knowledge. I main- 

 tain, therefore, that in their way these were all Zoologists. 



We may take it then, that after the collections of living forms came the 

 desire to preserve the dead ones and these early efforts resulted in the establish- 

 ment of small collections probably privately owned. The study of the Alchemist, 

 for instance, is always depicted with stuffed specimens of reptiles, birds, and 

 small animals. Prom these it was but a step to the larger collections until, in 

 the 16th century, the Italian universities showed collections and the study of 

 Zoology began in earnest. 



The earliest surviving museum was founded at Naples, but was for some 

 time suppressed by the Church! 



Later, some fifty years, Oxford University founded a museum of natural 

 history, following on the plan of the one at Naples. 



