TO HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY,
Louis Philippe,
KING OF THE FRENCH,
Whom as a Private Gentleman, exiled by despotism from his native country, enjoyed that respect which the dignity of virtue can alone ensure; whom, as a Prince, descended from a race of Kings, gained the affections of a whole people;—as the King of a great and intellectual nation, enjoys the love and veneration of the wise and the good; and as a true Patron of Science, munificently encourages, both privately and publicly, all who are engaged in its pursuit,
THIS VOLUME
OF
ZOOLOGICAL ILLUSTRATIONS,
Is dedicated,
WITH SENTIMENTS OF THE HIGHEST ADMIRATION
AND OF THE GREATEST RESPECT,
BY THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
The present state of science in Britain, the usual subject of our preface, has recently been discussed by powerful writers;[1] and has drawn from others,[2] equally eminent, bitter reflections. As regards Zoology, there is a great show of patronage. Zoological gardens, and new societies have sprang up: cheap publications, on popular natural history, appear daily; and professors have been installed at the two London Universities. Yet what has resulted? We have lecturers expounding systems they do not comprehend,[3] and we have professors maintaining that a walk into the fields will make "a very good naturalist."[4] Meantime nearly every periodical work on pure science has languished or died away. The Zoological Journal has been discontinued, although nominally patronized by a society enjoying an enormous annual receipt. The fact, indeed, is but too apparent, that the science of the country, speaking generally, has become superficial, while "neither literature nor art has been encouraged in our opulent Island, half as much as they have been by some of the petty kingdoms of the Continent."[5]
But the political horizon is happily brightening, and the change will ultimately affect all. The stream of national patronage has long been prevented from branching off and fertilizing spots, now impoverished and neglected. Natural History, more than any other science, requires such aid; because it is inapplicable to the purposes of life; and while its study is attended with enormous expence, its acquirement leads to nothing tangible. It is a melancholy fact, that while our present laws crush individual exertion, by extorting a large number of free copies of the most costly works, undertaken by their authors without the slightest hope of remuneration,—the Government of France assigns for subscriptions to such publications, an annual sum of £10,000.[6] But on questions regarding the patronage of science, Great Britain, unfortunately, is poorer than any nation in Europe.
- ↑ Babbage (On the Decline of Science), Quarterly Review.
- ↑ Herschel. Sir Humphrey Davy. Sir Nicholas Harris. Millengen. (Ancient Coins). See also Lowdon's Natural His. Mag. Nov. 1831. p. 481.
- ↑ Northern Zool. 2. p. xliv.
- ↑ Montague's Orn. Dict. new edition, preface.
- ↑ Athæneum Journal, Jan. 1832. p. 32.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 37.