The contentions of the clergy, which happened soon after the restoration of learning, engaged the attention of mankind, and paved the way for that freedom of thought and inquiry, which has since prevailed in most parts of Europe with regard to religious matters. Every man took a side in those bloody disputes; and every gentleman, that he might distinguish himself on one side or other, was instructed in Divinity. This taught people to think and reason for themselves in matters of religion, and at last totally destroyed that complete and absolute dominion which the clergy had obtained over the minds of men. The study of Law has likewise, in most civilized nations, been justly deemed a necessary part of the education of a gentleman. Every gentleman ought certainly to know at least the laws of his own country: and, if he were also acquainted with those of others, it might be more than barely an ornament to him. The different branches of Philosophy have also of late been very universally studied by all who pretended to a liberal education. The advantages of this are manifest. It frees the mind from prejudice and superstition; fits it for the investigation of truth; induces habits of reasoning and judging properly; opens an inexhaustible source of entertainment; paves the way to the improvement of arts and agriculture; and qualifies men for acting with propriety in the most important stations of life. Natural History is likewise become an object of general attention; and it well deserves to be so. It leads to discoveries of the greatest importance. Indeed agriculture, the most useful of all arts, is only a branch of Natural History, and can never arrive at a high degree of improvement where the study of that science is neglected. Medicine however has not, as far as I know, in any country, been reckoned a necessary part of the education of a gentleman. But surely no sufficient reason can be assigned for this omission. No science lays open a more extensive field of useful knowledge, or affords more ample entertainment to an inquisitive mind. Anatomy, Botany, Chymistry, and the _Materia Medica_, are all branches of Natural History, and are fraught with such amusement and utility, that the man who entirely neglects them has but a sorry claim either to taste or learning. If a gentleman has a turn for observation, says an excellent and sensible writer[1], surely the natural history of his own species is a more interesting subject, and presents a more ample field for the exertion of genius, than the natural history of spiders and cockle-shells.