hension of the purpose may guide us in seeing the meaning of the organization:" this most important principle was "brought into additional clearness and use by Cuvier." The doctrine of final causes is acutely pointed out, by the writer just quoted, as favourable to scientific discovery as well as to the support of natural religion. "Those who have been discoverers in science have generally had minds the disposition of which was to believe in an intelligent Maker of the universe." To this statement the present volume bears ample testimony. And the same author goes on to say: "The scientific speculations which produced an opposite tendency were generally those which, though they might deal familiarly with known physical truths, and conjecture boldly with regard to the unknown, did not add to the number of solid generalizations.” 1 These remarks occur in connexion with Whewell's sketch of the contributions to science made by Cuvier : "I may observe, that he is allowed by all to have established on an indestructible basis many of the most important generalizations which zoology now contains; and the principal defect which his critics have pointed out has been that he did not generalize still more widely and boldly. It appears, therefore, that he cannot but be placed among the great discoverers in the studies which he pursued; and this being the case, those who look with pleasure on the tendency of the thoughts of the greatest men to an intelligence far higher than their own, must be gratified to find that he 1 Whewell, Hist., vol. iii. p. 388. See also Whewell's Bridgwater Treatise on Astronomy, pp. 342, 366. was an example of this tendency, and that the acknowledgment of a creative purpose, as well as a creative power, not only entered into his belief, but made an indispensable and prominent part of his philosophy." "Beauty, richness, abundance," says Cuvier, "have been the ways of the Creator, no less than simplicity." "We conceive nature to be simply a production of the Almighty, regulated by a wisdom the laws of which can only be discovered by observation." 2 1 Hist., vol. iii. p. 388. 2 Lees' Memoirs of Cuvier, pp. 149, 150. was an example of this tendency, and that the acknowledgment of a creative purpose, as well as a creative power, not only entered into his belief, but made an indispensable and prominent part of his philosophy." 1 "Beauty, richness, abundance," says Cuvier, "have been the ways of the Creator, no less than simplicity." "We conceive nature to be simply a production of the Almighty, regulated by a wisdom the laws of which can only be discovered by observation." 2 1 Hist., vol. iii. p. 388. 2 Lees' Memoirs of Cuvier, pp. 149, 150. JOHN DALTON. 1766-1844. Na Cumberland dale, at the township of Eaglefield, not far from Cockermouth, there lived in 1766 a Quaker family in humble circumstances, who shortly afterwards obtained a small copyhold estate, upon which the good man of the house brought up six children, one of them being JOHN DALTON, born in the year just mentioned. The Society of Friends in those days were much more strict in their adherence to the usages of George Fox than their descendants are at present; and it is easy to picture the drab coat and the broad-brimmed hat of the father, and the sobercoloured gown, and the neat cap, and the white kerchief of the mother, with their little ones like a flock, dressed in corresponding attire, when on first days they followed their parents to "meeting." Dalton went to school with "Friend Fletcher," who lived in the place, and had the care of other children connected with the community. The learning communicated might not be of the highest kind, but the boy is said to have made very considerable progress in knowledge;" and, in proof of this, we learn that at the age of twelve or thirteen, he set up school for himself, and during two winters instructed other youth John |