128 Scientific Reviews. 
A reproach of this kind is not now applicable to us. The period 
is past in which such writers as Kirby and Spence were forced to 
enter into an elaborate defence of their favourite science, to shield 
it from the ridicule of ignorance, and to recommend the result of 
their researches to the attention even of the learned. We are no 
longer called upon to vindicate the interest and utility of any branch 
of the study of nature. We have merely to announce our subject to 
insure’a hearing ; and if we fail of commanding consideration, the 
fault will be in ourselves. The popularity of natural science is 
widely spread. She has stept forth from the museum, the study, 
and the dissecting-room, to mingle in the crowded societies of men. 
But to whom and to what is this favourable revolution to be attri- 
buted? We shall ever be ready to acknowledge the full extent of our 
obligations, on this score, to those distinguished countrymen, whose 
efforts in this cause have been so exemplary and so successful. But 
without derogating, in the remotest degree, from their merits, we 
must candidly acknowledge, that the impetus which set their ener- 
gies in motion, did not arise among ourselves. To the honourable 
spirit of rivalry in science with our Gallic neighbours, which was 
aroused among us after the destructive one of war had subsided, 
the origin of our efforts in this kind must be traced. We owe much, 
very much, to the naturalists of Germany-and France. From them 
we received the shock which re-awakened us,into vital action, after 
a long, and apparently a hopeless lethargy. From the time of Wil- 
loughby and Ray, until, comparatively speaking, within a recent pe- 
riod, little had been done in zoological researches commensurate with 
the dignity of the British name. At all events, whatever might 
have been the merit of certain individuals, the general apathy - to 
such pursuits was incontestible ; and in this apathy might we still 
have remained, but for the example of strangers. Thus much is 
due to candour and to truth. It may be patriotism to arrogate every 
virtue exclusively to ourselves ; but assuredly it is neither Juetage 
nor wisdom. 
Among the illustrious names of the Continent which are, “ per 
ora virum,”’ in connexion with natural science, stands decisively 
pre-eminent that of CuviER, whose ‘ Regne Animal” forms the 
basis of the work at present under our consideration. His labours 
in comparative anatomy, and, above all, his researches into fossil 
osteology, entitle him to the eternal gratitude of all true lovers of 
knowledge. Identified with past creations, his fame can perish only 
with the present, by a revolution similar to those whose existence 
he has so ably demonstrated. 
The “ Regne Animal,” though little more than a synoptical view 
of the animal kingdom, is the best and most natural system of zoology 
yet offered to the world. Its great merit consists in exhibiting, as 
nearly as possible, the relations of existing beings, without attempt- 
ing a degree of precision which is unattainable, and which perhaps 
does not exist in nature itself. It will be well if future naturalists 
imitate this example, and do not vainly endeavour to make nature 
bend to their own preconceived or slightly founded theories. — 
