10 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF 
language of Dr. Baron^ "that the labours of the 
Naturalist are directed to points of small moment, or 
calculated to gratify a restless curiosity ; that he 
is occupied in counting anthers, or in describing 
insects ; and that the height of his ambition is to 
swell his catalogue of rare productions, or to people 
his museum with every varied species, more with 
a desire of evincing his capacity for arrangement, than 
for useful or dignified purposes. That there may be 
minds so dead to the real objects of our pursuit, 
there is too much reason to believe, but we can tell 
them we have higher and better aims — we go forth 
into the external world to find in the wonders it 
reveals to us the footsteps of the power, the wisdom, 
the perfection, of the eternal, omniscient and omni- 
potent Creator." 
It would be utterly impossible for me, in the short 
space which must be allotted to this introductory 
lecture, to give you any thing like even a correct 
outline of the subjects which may engage our atten- 
tion ; but as some of the branches of Natural History 
have been more peculiarly thought worthy of our 
notice, and as, moreover, committees upon them have 
been formed by this Society, I feel it incumbent 
upon me to state to you what subjects maybe entered 
upon, with a probability of reaping the greatest 
advantage. In doing this, I shall follow the course 
adopted by the Society, and speak of the several 
branches, which have been referred to the considera- 
tion of our five committees, viz. Statistics, Zoology^ 
Botany, Geology, and Meteorology. 
