Dr. SMITH’s Introductory Difcourfe. 3 3 
producing fuch teftimonies of his own celebrity was, in the weak- 
nefs of old age, too flattering to that vanity from which Haller is 
acknowledged not to have been free. Neither was Linnzus himfelf 
without his fhare of it; and if vanity were never found but with 
fuch pretenfions, who would not almoft forget that it were a 
weaknefs ? 
I cannot attempt to enumerate all the works of Haller, much 
lefs to difplay their merits. His hiftory of the Switzerland plants 
as one of the moft excellent and complete Floras the world ever faw, 
and is only deprived of the general applaufe it deferves, by the 
author's unconquerable diflike to the Linnzan clafification and 
nomenclature, by which his work is rendered extremely unfit for 
common ufe. His PRYOR» Bibliotheca Anatomica and Biblio- 
theca Botani are, am ig the. moft ftupendous monuments of 
human SHEETS as X as of human labour. They defy imitation, 
and ftrike criticifm dumb. 
Another diftinguifhed name alfo claims our attention, that of 
Reaumur. I know none more worthy to ftand next to Haller. 
Befides the various difcoveries of this great French naturalift which 
were of immediate ufe in improving the arts and manufaétures of 
his own country, the philofophical world at large will ever be in- . 
debted to him for his inveftigations of fome of the moft intricate 
parts of natural hiftory. His experiments on digeftion, on the 
fruétification of marine plants and on corals, are all celebrated, 
although with refpeét to the latter he was miftaken in denying 
their animal nature; but his immortal work is his * Memoires 
pour fervir à l'Hiftoire des Infe&tes," in 6 volumes, quarto; and he 
“has publifhed a variety of detached pieces relating to the fame — 
fubject. - 
The Italians poffeffed a fimilar genius to Reaumur in Vallifneri, 
whofe experiments relating to generation, and his candour in giving 
» up 
