145 



Introductory Lecture delivered at the opening of the Natural 

 History Class in the University of Edinburgh, on Wed- 

 nesday, 1st November 1854. By the late Edward Forbes, 

 F.R.S., F.G.S., Regius Professor of Natural History.) 



[The notes of this Lecture were found among Professor 

 Forbes' Manuscripts, and although probably not intended for 

 publication, they are now printed, in the hope that they will 

 be acceptable to his friends and pupils, and that they wil 

 furnish valuable hints as to the mode of conducting courses of 

 Natural History. 



There are few persons who would willingly admit that they 

 know nothing of natural history ; and, in one sense, they are 

 right : for, the beauties and curiosities of nature meeting the 

 sight of man at every turn, there can scarcely be a human 

 being, however ignorant and degraded, who has not at some 

 time observed and admired them. 



But natural history, properly so-called, is more than this : 

 it is the science of the understanding of natural objects. 



When we consider that all objects untransformed by the 

 art of man are natural, the vastness of this science in its full 

 extension must be great indeed, for it would embrace all that 

 concerns the earth and its productions, the surrounding air, 

 and extend into the domains of astronomy. But as that which 

 is aimed at by the professorial office is rather the teaching 

 how to study and master a science, through the exposition of 

 its leading facts and laws, than to communicate all that is 

 known about it, to extend the field of our teachings through- 

 out the realms of natural history, would be to prevent the 

 purpose we have in view. 



But there are certain great and principal sections of our 

 science which should and will form the substance of our 

 studies here, and which, however various and different they 

 may seem, are in reality intimately and inseparably blended, 

 These are the history of living beings, as they are on our globe 

 and as they were, and the preparation and constitution of the 

 earth's crust for the reception and development of life, 



VOL. I. NO. I.-WAN. 1855 ? K 



