Dr. T. R. Beck's Address. 



m 



ed on all proper occasions. It is accordant to those proper feelings 

 of independent effort, which we should cherish, while it is the pur- 

 Natural history, although only a single branch of human knowl- 

 edge, is in itself too extensive to admit of successful cultivation, 

 in all its parts by the same individual. Even the original and phi- 

 losophic genius of Linnaeus was unable to embrace all, and he is 

 generally allowed to have either imperfectly understood or incor- 

 rectly arranged some of its divisions. If it proved thus with him, 

 how can such general study be expected to succeed with men of 

 inferior mold at the present day ? It must be, that numerous parts 

 will remain unexplored— the interest which those, that are most 

 interesting and most important to us, should inspire, will be dissi- 

 pated over the wide spread surface that we intended to occupy, and 

 at last, with a sensation of weariness, the student will be led to 

 imagine that the object in view is too vast for accomplishment. 



It is hence found, that they excel most, whose inquiries are lim- 

 ited to a single branch ; and if this be the fact in Europe, with how 

 much greater certainty will it occur amongst us. The votaries of 

 natural history in America, are very generally, and indeed necessa- 

 rily, engaged in the ordinary pursuits of life, and these require the 

 devotion of the principal part of our time. The science must be 

 pursued as a pleasure — an amusement, or a relaxation, and as such 

 it may be made useful to ourselves and beneficial to others. Hence 

 it is evidently among the favorable omens of the present day, that 

 so many associations are forming, from year to year, in different 

 parts of our state, for its advancement. The combination of in- 

 dividuals, engaged in investigating the different branches, leads to 

 an intercourse, which gradually throws light on all ; while the 

 number and locality of each confine, as it were, their particular 

 investigations, within a sphere they can readily coaipass. 



On a previous occasion, I had the honour very briefly to state the 

 leading divisions in natural history, and I may repeat them at this 

 time. At the head of the list is usually placed Zoology, or the 

 natural history of animals. This again is subdivided into several 

 classes, founded on the internal structure of each— such as Quad- 

 rupeds; Birds; Amphibious Animals; Fishes; Insects, and 

 Worms ; to which systematic writers have subsequently added, 

 the Mollusca, and Zoophytes. Next to this is Botany, or the nat- 

 ural history of vegetables : Mineralogy, or the natural history of 



