viii Preface. 



this defect, at all events as regards North America, might 

 be accounted for on the hitherto dominant principle that the 

 sole aim of science should strictly be utility as applied to 

 the physical wants and interests of mankind ; or, in other 

 words, that whatever learning did not show the all-mighty 

 Dollar in prospective, was at once to be condemned as futile ! 

 This dogma, so apparent formerly, is now, however, rapidly 

 vanishing, both in the United States and Canada. 



Reverting to the circumstances under which the following 

 observations were obtained, it might not be altogether out 

 of place were I to indite a few further remarks, mostly with 

 the view of recommending the study of the natural sciences 

 to individuals who may enjoy the leisure and taste for like 

 pursuits. Yet I wish more particularly to address myself 

 to the younger officers of the Army and Navy, and to none 

 more pointedly than members of my own profession, whose 

 previous studies render them especially adapted for prose- 

 cuting physical inquiries. 



Thus, a knowledge of human anatomy, physiology, 

 chemistry, and botany, forming portions of a medical educa- 

 tion, is eminently qualified to foster tastes for natural history 

 researches ; whilst, on the other hand, the grand principles 

 of the construction and functional agencies of lowlier 

 organisms, mineralogy, and surface geology, would doubtless 

 prove of great advantage in the elucidation of some obscure 

 and hidden forms of disease, their causes, and remedies. The 

 benefits, however, derivable under these heads are so self- 

 evident that further comment seems to me unnecessary. In 

 fine, let me exhort Army and Navy officers generally to try 

 physical studies as remedies for idleness during the many 

 leisure hours spent in often less profitable undertakings, for 

 Nature's field is broad and inviting, so that he who runs may 

 read. To my confreres experienced in travel I would bring 

 the matter home in this way — Think of the dreary, listless 

 life on the foreign station ; the cankering ennui and trying 



