SERIES il. 



LECTURE 1. 



ON ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMS, AND THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTEHS OP ANIMALS, 



While every department of nature displays an unbounded scope to the 

 contemplative mind, — a something on which it may perpetually dwell with 

 new and growing dehght, and new and growing improvement ; we behold 

 in the great division of the animal kingdom a combination of allurements 

 that draw us, and fix us, and fascinate us with a sort of paramount and 

 magical captivity, unknown to either of the other branches of natural 

 history ; and which seem to render them chiefly or alone desirable and 

 interesting, in proportion as they relate to animal life. There is, indeed, 

 in the mineral domain, an awe, and a grandeur, and a majesty, irresisti- 

 bly impressive and sublime ; and that cannot fail to hft up the heart to an 

 acknowledgment of the mighty power which piled the massy cliflTs upon 

 each other, and rent the mountains asunder, and flung their scattered frag- 

 ments over the valleys. There is in the realm of vegetables an immea- 

 surable profusion of bounty and of beauty, of every thing that can delight 

 the external eye, and gratify the desire ; simple, splendid, variegated, 

 exquisite. But the moment we open the gates of the animal kingdom a 

 new world pours upon us, and a new train of affections take possession 

 of the bosom ; it is here, for the first time, that we behold the nice linea- 

 ments of feeling, motion, spontaneity ; we associate and sympathize with 

 every thing around us, we insensibly acknowledge an approximation (often 

 indeed very remote, but an approximation nevertheless,) to our own na- 

 ture, and run over with avidity the vast volume that lies before us, of 

 tastes, and customs, and manners, and propensities, and passions, and 

 consummate instincts. 



But where shall we commence the perusal of this volume ? the different 

 pages of which, though each intrinsically interesting, lie scattered, like 

 the sibyl leaves of antiquity, over every part of the globe, and require to 

 be collected and arranged in order, to give us a just idea of their relative 

 excellence, and to enable us to contemplate them as a whole. 



The difficulty has been felt in all ages ; and hence multiplied classifi- 

 cations, or schemes for assorting, and grouping into similar divisions, such 

 individuals as indicate a similar structure, or similar habits, or similar 

 powers, have been devised in diflferent periods of the world, and especially 

 in modern times, in which the study of zoology has been pursued with a 

 searching spirit, unknown to the sages of antiquity. — And well has it deserved 

 to be so pursued. This subject," observes M. Biberg, " is of so much 

 importance, and of such an extent, that if the ablest men were to attempt" 

 to treat it thoroughly, an age would pass away before they could explain 

 completely the admirable economy, habits, and structure even of the most 



