Excerpt from Introduction to Zoology, for the Use of Schools
I have for years been anxious that Natural History should be made a regular Branch of Education, because it exercises both the observant and the reflective powers; furnishes enjoyment pure and exhaustless; and tends to make devotional feelings habitual. The present little Work has been undertaken in the hope that it might conduce to such a result.
In its preparation, I have aimed at conveying correct ideas of the peculiarities of structure by which the principal divisions of the animal kingdom are distinguished; and of the habits, economy, and uses of one or more of the most common native species belonging to each of these groups. Foreign species are occasionally mentioned in connexion with their respective classes, but the "home produce" forms the "staple commodity."
The exercise of memory involved in the repetition of scientific names, or in the recital of anecdotes respecting the animals of the arctic or tropical regions, is, comparatively, of little importance. The great object should be to bring natural-history knowledge home to the personal experience of the pupil. To teach him to observe, to classify his observations, and to reason upon them, and thus to invest with interest the Common Objects which he sees around him. Small collections of natural objects, made by the pupils themselves, would, under the guidance of a judicious teacher, be of great value in this species of mental culture, and would form the much-prized ornaments of the school-room.
The present volume has been prepared amid the scanty leisure incidental to the life of a man of business. It will, therefore, I hope, be regarded with indulgence, both by the Naturalist and by him who is practically engaged in the important duties of the school-room.
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