26 
MEMOIR OF CAMPER. 
very is unquestionable ; for, in respect to Camper, 
it is not stated that he claims to liave made the dis- 
covery earlier than 1761, while J. Hunter’s words 
are, “ Before quitting my anatomical pursuits in 
1760, 1 had discovered the organ of hearing in fishes, 
and had the parts exposed and preserved in spirits. 
In some instances, the canals were injected with co- 
loured wax, in others with metals, which, when the 
bone was afterwards corroded, made elegant casts.” 
Camper’s Essay on the Physical Education oj In- 
Jants, was occasioned by the subject having been pro- 
posed as a prize-essay by the Society of Sciences of 
Haarlem ; and to such challenges we shall find that 
Camper gave a ready and usually a successful response. 
Among the points discussed, are the clothing of in- 
fants, their nourishment, their instruction, and, last- 
ly, their inoculation, at that time a subject new and 
much canvassed, and to which our author lent the 
whole weight of his autliority. When treating of 
clothing, he alludes to the melancholy fact, of the 
number of girls in the higher and middling classes of 
society, who, from diseased spine, grow up deformed, 
and shews that the deformity is scarcely to be met 
with among rude nations, or the children of the poor. 
He inquires into the cause, an<l protests, in strong 
terms, against the excess of care and peculiarity of 
dress which cramps and thwarts the intentions and 
operations of natui e, and urges free and unrestrained 
exercise and activity. We ridicule, says he, the Chi- 
nese, for maiming the Icet of their female children, 
