9 
To the man of loftier intellect or aspirations, who has fortunately learned to 
gaze upon creation with the eye of the naturalist and philosopher, rather than of 
the poet, an examination of the structure and economy of the animal kingdom will 
disclose elevating and comprehensive views, and supply facts and illustrations; 
which, whatever be the path of science or literature he is destined to tread, may 
incessantly be turned to admirable account in his peculiar calling: and, as Cuvier 
has beautifully observed, the peaceful pursuits of Zoology will serve to tranquillize 
and sustain the agitated and the weary spirit amidst all the anxieties and disap¬ 
pointments, the petty jealousies and detractions, with which those paths are so 
sadly and so painfully infested. 
The application of the study of Zoology, as of Natural History in general, to 
the science of Medicine, is not less evident in other respects, than in its more 
immediate connections with the Anatomy and Physiology of the human body. 
From the animal and vegetable, the mineral and gaseous kingdoms, the physician 
and surgeon derive all the boasted resources of their beneficent art: and ought not 
the workman to cultivate a familiarity the most intimate with the structure and 
composition, the properties and arrangement, of those instruments which he is 
incessantly called upon to employ ? In the character and tendency of studies like 
these, as in the intellectual discipline which they necessarily impose, there are, 
also, an especial fitness, and an influence, calculated most powerfully to re¬ 
commend them to the notice of medical men. For he, whose organs of observa¬ 
tion have been sedulously trained to the accurate discrimination of the minuter 
differences whereby the various species of animal, plant, or mineral, are respec¬ 
tively characterised, will, doubtless, in general, more readily and distinctly appre¬ 
ciate, than the man of untutored eye, the slighter diversities, the more delicate 
and evanescent forms and phenomena, exhibited by disease. It may even be 
questioned whether science and humanity have not been principally indebted to 
the habits of close and patient observation acquired by Dr. Jenner, in his pur¬ 
suits as a naturalist, for the splendid discovery which has immortalized his' 7 own 
name, and thrown an additional and enduring lustre around the scientific reputa¬ 
tion of his country. 
The mind of the medical practitioner, moreover, if, in the hour of retirement 
from the active duties of his profession, it be not occupied by these elevating and 
congenial subjects, will too frequently contract habits, or fly for recreation to 
amusements deeply injurious or destructive to that calm, contemplative, and philo¬ 
sophic spirit, which he will best consult his interests and reputation by cultivating 
or acquiring; and utterly inconsistent with the comprehensive attainments and 
intelligence, the purity and decorum, the lofty elevation of character and of feeling, 
by which the votary of medical science should invariably be distinguished. 
Deeply impressed with a conviction of the utility of these studies, and the be¬ 
neficent influence which they are calculated to exert upon the public mind, we have 
VOL. i. 
c 
