800 Prof. Necker on the History and Progress of Geology. 
in the coal formations of France, by M. Le Gallois, who had 
studied its geological relations in England. 
But I must not detain you longer with this subject ; and were 
it not well known, at the present day, that, in those nations which 
have cultivated the sciences only with reference to their econo- 
mical applications, the sources of discovery have been clogged, 
I might recal to your attention the words of the discourse, ad- 
dressed to one of the first learned bodies in Europe, the Royal 
Society of London, and with these words I shall conclude. 
fi< You ought to have in view the applications of science, as 
often as they present themselves in practice, without ever for- 
getting the dignity of your researches, the noble result of which 
is, to exalt the powers of the understanding, and increase the 
sphere of the intellectual enjoyments, by enlarging the picture 
of nature, and by putting in evidence the power, the wisdom, 
and the goodness, of the Author of all that exists.” 
Art. XII . — Observations on the Temperature of Man and 
other Animals . By John Davy, M. D. F. R. S. 
The following pages contain the results of some inquiries 
that I have instituted on the temperature of man and other 
animals ; a subject which, in a physiological, and, in relation 
to man, in a pathological point of view, is deserving perhaps of 
more minute attention than, to the best of my knowlege, has 
been bestowed upon it. 
1st, I shall describe the observations I have collected, to as- 
certain the variation of temperature to which man is liable, in 
passing from the temperate into the torrid zone, — in descend- 
ing from a cool mountainous district into a hot low country,— 
and in inhabiting a region where the diurnal vicissitudes of tem- 
perature are considerable. 
2dly, I shall give an account of the attempts I have made to 
ascertain the temperature of different races of men. 
Sdly, I shall relate the results of my experiments on the 
temperature of different kinds of animals. 
And I shall conclude with drawing such inferences as the 
