MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 
Although the claims of Bruce, the African Tra- 
veller, as a benefactor to science, belong rather to 
Geography than Natural History, yet from the im- 
portance of his discoveries as enlarging the means 
of human knowledge, and opening up an unexplored 
region to future adventurers in the same path, his 
name well deserves a place in the catalogue of dis- 
tinguished men who have contributed to the ad- 
vancement of Natural Science. The interesting 
countries through which he penetrated have been 
repeatedly visited by Europeans since his time ; but 
with him rests the merit of having first excited that 
thirst for information respecting their antiquities, 
manners, and productions, which has led so many 
enterprising travellers to the same fountain. 
Abyssinia, the most prominent theatre of Bruce’s 
discoveries, had then aroused no spirit of inquiry in 
Great Britain ; and it was nearly as little known to 
the inhabitants of this part of the world, even up to 
the middle of the last century, as it was in the days 
of Herodotus and Strabo. From the Mosaic record 
we learn that the Jews were acquainted with 
