A lecture on the advantages of the study of natural history ... : delivered at the city of Westminster Literary & Mechanics Institution, February, 1851 / by Edwards Crisp.

  • Edwards Crisp
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the advantages of the study of natural history ... : delivered at the city of Westminster Literary & Mechanics Institution, February, 1851 / by Edwards Crisp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    does not serve some useful purpose when left in a state of nature ; and animals that are often thought to be injurious, are very beneficial; as the mole, rook, and insect feeding-birds : the first destroys the wire- worm, and other insects that are hurtful to vegetation. A colony of rooks will consume hundreds of bushels of grubs in a season. Kirby mentions a farmer who had his meadow covered with rooks, which he supposed were destroying the roots of the grass, as the ground was perforated in all directions. But these birds were feeding upon the grub of the cock-chafer, fmelolontlia vulgaris,) a destructive insect that remains in the larva state for four years. The number of caterpillars that the young of some small birds are supplied with is almost incredible. I now come to the most interesting part of the subject, viz., a com- parison of the intelligence of man, with that of the lower animals. Some are inclined to doubt the existence of reason in the brute, and I confess the subject is a difficult one to grapple with ; and I have only time for a cursory glance. The habits and intelligence of the bee and the ant, would form an ample theme for a dozen lectures, and yet these animals are low in the scale of organization, and their brains are so small, that they are scarcely perceptible. Some of the vertebrata possess the power of imitation to a high degree, and they exhibit a certain amount of reason; hut they generally act from an instinctive feeling—a blind impulse. The nest of one species of bird bears the same form and construction; the duckling reared by a hen, runs to the water. The young of the wild-duck, although hatched and reared by a domesticated one, do not lose their natural shyness. The bird does not know her own eggs ; pieces of chalk may be substituted for the eggs, and the old bird will continue to sit upon them. The hedge- sparrow, wagtail, and robin, will hatch and rear the young of the cuckoo; and some of the mammalia are equally accommodating. I have known a litter of young foxes suckled by a cat; but the skin of the dead lamb is often put upon the strange lamb, before the ewe will allow it to take its food. Birds often return to the same spot year after year to make their nests, although their offspring have been captured. A proof that they have no forethought. When a boy, I have taken the young of the barn-owl, magpie, and hawk, and the old birds came again to the same tree. The swallow annually travels hundreds of miles through the trackless air to the same house, even if its nest has been demolished. A lady of ray acquaintance, residing in Suffolk, had her bed room window left open accidentally, and two swallows built their nest in the folds of the bed curtains where they reared their young for two successive years ; they commenced building the third year, hut the lady shut them out, the number of visitors making her sleeping apartment rather too public. The instances of the sagacity of the dog would fill volumes. A brother of mine (Mr. R. Crisp, of Leiston, Suffolk) has a large spaniel, which he uses as a retriever ; the dog is quite deaf, but he frequently looks back to be directed by the hand of his master. This dog, when tired, and a partridge is only winged, lays it upon the ground, puts his paw upon it, and sticks two of his teeth through its brain. This is to prevent his eyes being hurt by the pinions of the bird when it flutters, it also being much easier to carry when dead. I have known an old
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