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HEADS
COURSE  OF LECTURES
Natural tyistotv
BY B. WATERHOUSE, M:D.
 Approach and peruse the volume of Me Creation ; it is the language
which has gone out to all the ends of the earth, unaffected by the con-
fusion of Babel.                   lord bacon.
       CAMBRIDGE :  ".■",,  .  o

PRINTED BY MILLIARD & METCALF.

          1810. 
 
HEADS
OF A COURSE OF LECTURES ON

    NATURAL  HISTORY.
  I. Introductory.  Curiosity, or desire of knowl-
edge, a certain sign of a vigorous intellect; exempli-
fied in the inhabitants of some parts of the United
States, and of China.   The importance of gratifying
properly this " thirst of the soul" in young people.
The grand object, or effort of education is to engage
the mind by pleasure, while you fill it with instructive
ideas.  The outlines of the course before us.  Who
first suggested the natural history of our country.*
    II. Opinions respecting the creation of the world.
The sum total of matter now, the same as at the first
creation.  Concerning the PRiMARYMATTER,or that
original fund, which is constantly changing out of, and
into all the various substances perceivable by the sens-
es.   The production of a vegetable, and every other
organized body, not a  fresh  creation, or calling  of
something out of nothing ; but a mutation, or change
  *  See the constitution of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, chap.
v. sect. 2. 
                         4
 of something that before existed.  This doctrine illus-
 trated.   " Omnia ex ovo."
    III. Concerning simple matter, and  its astonishing
 divisibility, especially in animal bodies.   Matter can-
 not move itself.   Of that original power, which caus-
 es weight; and that which causes heat;  or gravitation
 and expansion.  Of chemical attractions, and of calo-
 ric, or the fluid matter of heat.   Of light.  " Organi-
 zation, sensation, and  spontaneous motion exist only
 in places exposed to the influence of light."   Of the
 fable  of Prometheus.
    IV. Concerning the efficient cause, or that
 spirit, or principle of motion, which throws into shape
 and actuates  the otherwise  lifeless matter.  Concern-
 ing the elements of fire, water, and air.   How far
 they may be considered as elements.  By that term we
 mean to express the last point, which analysis is capa-
 ble of reaching.   Of that spirit,  which moved upon
 the face of the water,
      " On wings outstretch'd, o'er chaos hung sublime."
    V. Distribution of knowledge into particular sci-
 ences.   Philosophy divides itself into the doctrine of
 the DEITY, of Man, and of Nature. What is meant
 by the Great Book  of Nature;  the  art  of reading it.
 The  Science of Natural History comprehends two
 objects;   first,  that of discovering, naming, and sys-
 tematizing the all various productions of nature; this
 is dry, mechanical and incomplete ;  secondly, that of
 relating the properties, manners, and relations which
they bear to man, and  to each  other;  this is  useful
 knowledge, widening  the prospect of nature around
 us, and giving us a relish for existence.  Both neces- 
5
sary to form the consummate naturalist.    Method
the soul of science;  by it a confused heap  of facts
may be so arranged that the judgment may perform
its office  with advantage.    A  caution not to mistake
classification for Natural History ;  or to pursue it so
far as to loose sight of nature.
    VI.  Concerning the transition from inert to organ-
ized matter ;* and from a vegetable to the lowest or-
der of animated nature, viz. the Zoophytes;  or that
order of  beings which connects insensible to animated
nature.  As every animal in nature came from an egg,
so every vegetable springs from a seed.  Of molecules,
or organized particles susceptible of life.   The gene-
ral doctrine of a vegetable.   The anatomy of a seed ;
demonstrated to be an organized body, furnished with
vessels like an animal, and containing die future plant
in miniature.    Of the successive changes a seed un-
dergoes when placed in a due degree of heat and moist-
ure.   Of the oxygenating process in  the  growing
plant, and the evolving egg.  How the molecules, or
infinitessimally small organized bodies are  absorbed
by a vegetable in the act of growing.
    VII. Botany.   Anatomical description of a full
grown vegetable;  of the  seven  essential  parts of it,
discoverable in the seed, root, stem, branch, leaf, bud,
flower and fruit.   A biographical sketch of Linnae-
us, the prince of naturalists.
    VIII.  The Linncean system of Botany  briefly ex-
plained, a system encumbered  with  fewer difficulties
than any hitherto published.  Of the private and pub-
   • The Monas :  Vermis inconspicuus, simplicissimus, pellucidus,
 punctiformis. An invisible, pellucid, simple, punctiform worm ; or a
 live, jelly-like point  See Adams 430. 
                        6
lie virtues of vegetables; or of their specific virtues; and
of the power which the collective body  of vegetables
possesses in purifying the atmosphere.   Of the perni-
cious effects of sleeping in a small room  crowded with
flowers or fruit.   How every vegetable, from the tall
pine and stately oak of the forest, to the humble grass
of the field, contributes  to form one grand apparatus
for cleansing the atmosphere from  pernicious exhala-
tions.
    IX.  On the noble and honorable art of Agriculture.
Agriculture gives man the only riches he can call his
own.  The advantages of Labour : It is a task kind-
ly imposed on man by his beneficent Creator, as the
best means of preserving his health, his safety, and his
innocence.  By agriculture only can Commerce be per-
petuated.   Of the food of plants.    Does the food of
plants reside in water alone ? or in air ? or in putrid
animal substances ? or in a  combination of all three ?
Of the different kinds of soil; and of  the manures
adapted to each :  some of directly opposite qualities to
others.  Of that unceasing rotation between the growth
and decay of vegetables, and the vitality of animals, by
which circulation  life  is kept up, without  a pause,
throughout every part of the creation.
    X. Directions how to form a Hortus Siccus.  Im-
portance of the art of drawing to every man of educa-
tion, especially to the Naturalist.   Of the easy multi-
plication of drawings by the  simple art of etching.  Ex-
amples.    The art of printing ; or the  ars artium
omnium conservatrix.    A digression,  whether
Science, Morality, or Liberty have, or will  be gainers
by this  discovery.  Gesner and Aldrovondus celebrat- 
                         7
ed and lamented !  What is the ultimate end or use of
Botany ? AU the public Professors of Botany, in eve-
ry period of its existence as a science, have been  med-
ical men.
    XI.  The Animal Kingdom.   The  difficulty of
drawing exactly the line between the vegetable and an-
imal kingdom.  Do they in fact divide themselves in-
to two distinct kingdoms ? or do they form only one im-
mense family ? As all vegetables come from a seed, so
every animal comes from an egg.  The anatomical de-
scription of an hen's egg.  Heat, an exciting and pre-
serving stimulus, necessary to  begin  and to support
animal  life.   The  gradual unfolding of the chicken,
from the first hour of incubation, till it breaks its shell
and shews itself an active animal in the open air. This
process applied to theprimordia of all other animals in
creation.*   Of Respiration in man and other quadru-
peds.
    XII. Ornithology,or the doctrine of Birds. As,
in the descending scale of nature, quadrupeds follow af-
ter man, so birds follow after quadrupeds.   The dif-
ference between the internal structure of birds and
quadrupeds.   How air  penetrates every part of their
bodies, even their bones, while their lungs are nearly
quiescent.   The difference between their digestive or-
gans and man's.  The curious structure of a feather.
Of moulting.  Nothing in nature so strong,  so forci-
ble, and so light, as the wings of birds.   Why man
must ever despair of flying widi feathered wings.  The
  • These subjects will be extended, contracted, or entirely omitted,
according to the audience.  To an audience of medical men they may
be extended ;  to a mixed company of gentlemen contracted, or entire-
ly omitted. 
                         8
flying of a bat on different principles from that of birds.
Of the eyes, and surprising sharpness of sight in birds:
their eyes nearly as large as their brains.    General
character of the rapacious class of birds.  Of the in-
stinct of birds.
    XIII. Amphibiology ;  or the doctrine of that
class of animals which live sometimes in the  water;
have hearts with a single auricle and ventricle ;  cold
red blood; a third part of which only passes through
their lungs; with cartilages instead of bones.  Divid-
ed  into Reptiles, under which is found the turtle, frog,
and lizard tribe :  the  Serpentes : and Nantes.   Mis-
cellaneous observations.
    XIV. Ichthyology; or the doctrine of Fishes;
a class of animals living entirely in the water, and having
lungs in their heads ; and a vesica a'e'ria, or swimming
bladder in their bodies.  Miscellaneous observations.
Fishes the eldest children of creation ?
    XV. Insects.   Smallness does not constitute an
insect.  Definition.   Their curious structure, exem-
plified in the caterpillar.   Can live the longest when de-
prived of those organs deemed vital in the higher order
of animals.  Their amazing number; more numerous
than vegetables; a proof of their imperfection.   The
Microscope operates  like enchantment, by calling up
to view  the invisible world, totally unknown to the an-
tients.  Insects the most captivating branch  of Natu-
ral History; " vidi et obstupui ;"  but the least useful.
Among such an innumerable host, the silk-worm, the
bee,  the cantharid, and  the  cochineal are nearly  all
that are useful to man.   The  Vermes, placed be-
tween Insects and Plants.    They are the very  out- 
                         9
skirts of animated nature, extending to the confines of
the vegetable world.  On Instinct.
    XVI. On the Scale of Beings.   1. Of inorgan-
ized beings, as a mineral: 2. organized and inanimate
beings, as a plant: 3. organized and  animate beings,
as the brute animal:   4. organized, animate, and rea-
sonable beings, of which there is but one on earth, viz.
Man.   Of the faculties of organized bodies :  (a) of
the nutritive faculty ;  (b) the vegetative ; (c) the sen-
sitive ; and (d) the rational.   Does the reflective fac-
ulty belong only to man ?  Can we exclude the dog, the
beaver, or the elephant ?  Of the (Economy of organ-
ized bodies.   The animal produced by a Cutting, as
in the polypus, is but one degree above  a vegetable ;
that  produced from an egg  [oviparous] is one  step
higher ;  that class of animals which is brought forth
alive  [viviparous] still more exalted ;  of  these such
as bring forth  one at a  time the most complete, the
foremost of which stands the great master of all, Man.
Man placed on the top of the visible series of creation;
and uniting in himself all the powers and faculties of
nature ; hence called the microcosmos.  Does the scale
end where it ceases to be  visible ?   The  opinion of
 Locke, Addison, and  Jennings.
    XVII.  The Doctrine of Man comprised under
six heads.   The 1st considers him Physiologice ; 2.
Dizetetice;  3. Pathologice; 4. Naturaliter;  5. Po-
litice, and  6.  Theologice :—"  Hac si noveris Homo
 " es, et a reliquis  animalibus dutinctissimum genus."
 Lin.  The human body unites all the powers and fac-
ulties of nature;  it  is  the  masterpiece of  creation.
           2 
10
Instinct, a propensity prior to experience and indepen-
dent of instruction ;  directs the animal  creation to
choose what is good for food, and to avoid what would
be destructive ;  but man, blessed with reason, feeds
on every thing, and vaftes it infinitely by that art of
cookery.  Of the Vis Medicatrix Naturte, or that in-
nate power which the human body possesses of curing
itself when diseased.   Man in his savage state;  in his
civilized state ;   and lastly as distinguished  from all
other animals by a knowledge of his Creator.
    XVIIL  Man distinguished from all other animals
by tly-: expression of his feelings, as in laughing  and
shedding tears.   In all animals whose individuals rise
little above the rest of their species, knowledge is in-
stinctive ;  in man, whose individuals are so  widely
different, it is acquired by education.  Is the difference
in the minds of men so much the effect of education,
as organization ?  The skull of a negro,  an Asiatic,
an European and American compared.   Of the Ani-
mal (Economy ;  or that innate power which conducts
man from helpless infancy to his full growth ; a pow-
er which ceases not its operation while sense and ap-
petite are asleep; being the power that nourishes, re-
freshes, and animates  him, and which causes  him to
sleep and to wake.  A distinction between this innate
power and that of the Mi n d ; or the power of think-
ing, reflecting, comparing, and representing to itself
past, present, and to come ;  which power is termed
comprehension, understanding, reason, mind, will, free-
dom, or collectively by the single word Soul.   The 
11
opinions of certain antient and modern philosophers on
the locality of the soul.
    XIX. Man, of all earthly beings, alone possesses
the power of contemplation: He alone is capable of sur-
veying the universe, and of elevating his mind to the
Almighty hand that directs the whole : exemplified in
a view of the solar system ;  the prospect so as-
tonishing as ultimately to oppress the mind by undis-
cerning amazement!   The Sun the great source of
heat, light, life, mdjoy to the globes circulating around
him.  General description  of one of these bodies, viz.
the Terraqueous Globe, which we inhabit.  The
Solar system so perfect that nothing can be  mended
or altered for the better ;  not so the  earth, where
man heightens his enjoyment by mending his habita-
tion.  This mending the  earth is the noble art of agri-
culture, whence emerges commerce with its long train
of benefits.    Commerce  binds the world together in a
golden chain.
    XX.  Of the most celebrated theories of the form-
ation and present state  of the earth, viz. Burnet's,
 Woodward's, Winston's,  Buffon's and Hutton's.   Of
the formation and use of mountains, and the origin and
use of rivers.
   XXI.  The Crust of the earth described; the know-
ledge of which constitutes the science of mineralo-
 gy.  The contents of the  earth but little known : all
below 3000 feet is dark conjecture.  Of the structure
of primaeval, and of alluvial mountains.   The history
 of Mi n e r a l o g y ; of the collection of minerals in the 
12
University of Cambridge ;  its origin, progress and
present condition.
   XXII. Of the Primary Earths.   Characteristic
properties of ores.  Definition of a metal.  What some
mean by Phlogiston, or fire clothed with a body ?  Of
Platina, Gold, and Quicksilver,  or perfect metals; so
called because they suffer no oxydation in the furnace.
Of Silver, Copper, Iron, Lead, Tin and Zinc.  Of the Se-
mi metals. The United States replete with miner-
als ;  yet are we dependent on foreign nations for rich-
es that lie under our feet!  Better for us to find mines
of Tin than  Gold.   The scarcity of the last augments
its value.    The extravagant price set on  diamonds,
and other glittering  stones, ridiculous in  the eyes of
Americans.    " Quot manus atieruntUr,  ut unus nite-
at articulus  /"   Pliny.
   XXIII.  The Natural History of'Water.   Wa-
ter enters the composition of every vegetable, mineral
and  animal.  Whence  do  Rivers  derive their un-
ceasing supply ?  Of the  perpetual  circulation of
fresh water  from the salt Ocean, through  the atmos-
phere, down the Mountains, and, in the form of Riv-
ers,  to the Ocean again ; all having a special reference
to the sustentation of vegetables;  which  afford, di-
rectly, or indirectly, nutriment to all terrestialanimals.*
The Natural History of the  Atmosphere, a desidera-
tum. Is the Air the offspring, or expiration of Water;
and  Fire of Air ?  The opinions of some of the an-
tients, especially of Thales.  " All things  out of wa-
ter.'"     The  subject  of Agriculture  and  Com-
   * Terrestial is here used in contradistinction to  submarine. 
13
Oierce resumed.   Commerce the  best cure for local
prejudices.
    XXIV.  Of the art of reading the Great Volume of
Nature.   How the antient Magi construed it.  The
analogy between things material and intellectual;  or
an attempt to shew that the material world is a mirror,
reflecting moral truths.
    XXV. The French " System de k Nature," op-
posed by arguments drawn from Newton, Clarke, But-
ler, Voltaire, and the common sense of mankind.
    XXVI.  After all the struggles of a reluctant phi-
losophy, the necessary  resort is  to a Deity.  The
marks of Design  are too strong to be got over.  De-
sign must have had a Designer. That there is a GOD,
a perceiving, intelligent, designing Being, at the head
of creation,  and from whose will  it all proceeded, is
nevertheless an IMMENSE  conclusion.*
* Palev. 
 
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