ANIMAL KINGDOM. 3£7 



sued forth to the world as an epitome of his manifold dis- 

 coveries, as the perfection of the object to which all his ope-, 

 rations tended, namely, a natural distribution of the Animal 

 Kingdom. It may not be altogether useless to say of this 

 work, Avhich is at present the text book of Natural History 

 in France, that it is impossible to have read it without 

 being convinced of the importance of the object which 

 die author has aimed at, and of the inadequacy of his en- 

 deavours, compared with those of Lamarck, to attain it. 

 At the same time it is but right to add, that no book ever 

 published has comprised so great a mass of zoological 

 information, nor has had it compressed within so small a 

 compass, as the Regrie Animal. Excellencies of this de- 

 scription render it by much the best work ever published 

 on the subject, and invaluable to those travellers who re- 

 quire a scientific companion to guide their researches in 

 distant countries. 



Naturalists, it is said, may be classed like the objects of 

 their study into genera and species ; and in this classifica- 

 tion places may be found for the comparative anatomist 

 and physiologist down to the mere collector who hoards 

 a shell or pebble, simply that he may be gratified in the 

 possession of that which his neighbour wants. The variety 

 of pursuits embraced in the comprehensive term Natural 

 History, is without doubt multifarious ; but it may be 

 questioned whether the title of naturalist be merited by 

 the cultivator of any one or two of these pursuits, or in- 

 deed by any person who deems even the most ignoble of 

 them unworthy of his attention. A native of this island, 

 whose aim it was to throw light on the organization con- 

 nected with the great functions of human life by an ana- 

 logical examination of some of the more perfect animals, 



