162 
HEVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS 
ninth part. It gives us pleasure to learn that Mr. Yarrell’s excellent work 
enjoys an extensive circulation.^ We could wish all our ornithological readers to 
add it to their libraries. 
A General Outline of the Animal Kingdom. By Thomas Rymer Jones, F.Z.S., 
Prof, of Comp. Anat. in King’s College, London. Illustrated by numerous En¬ 
gravings on Wood. London: John Van Voorst. Parts i. & ii. Sept. & Oct., 
1838. 8vo. pp. 96. 
Whatever progress this country may have made in other branches of science 
during the last fifty years,it is certain that we are very much behind our continental 
neighbours in the philosophical study of Natural History. We speak of Natural 
History as including more particularly the study of the animal and vegetable king¬ 
doms in their structure and functions, and the relations the objects in these kingdoms 
have to each other. This may be attributed to two causes. In the first place, little 
or no attention has been given to these subjects in our English Universities; and, 
in the second place, they have not till lately formed part of the education of those 
embracing the medical profession. Besides these we may mention the general 
neglect of a systematic study of Natural History in all our schools. How 
different is the case in Germany, where the elements of Zoology, Botany, and 
Mineralogy are taught in all their gymnasia, and a class of Natural History 
exists in all their numerous colleges. We hope, however, the time has arrived 
when we shall no longer sustain .the reproach of ignorance of any department 
of science, and that we shall be able to appreciate the discoveries of scientific 
foreigners, as well as to detect any errors into which they may have fallen. Our 
reasons for anticipating this change may be seen in the increased attention that 
is given to Natural History in our old Universities, as well as the prominent 
part that it occupies in the requirements for the diplomas of the New London 
University; also in the increased attention paid to the sciences of Comparative 
Anatomy and Botany by the rising members of the medical profession. It is to 
the former science that naturalists must look, not only for a correct knowledge of 
the functions and instincts of the objects in the animal kingdom, but also for a 
true basis on which to erect their various systems of classification. This fact has 
not been sufficiently recognised by naturalists in this country; and whilst our 
neighbours on the Continent have been expanding their views by a close attention 
to the structure and functions of not only the animal but also the vegetable 
kingdom, we have, with few exceptions, been contented to add a few new species 
to the catalogues of natural objects. 
This will account for our want of books on the subject of Comparative 
