52 Dr. SuiTB' Introductory Difcourfe. 
once before us. No country that I know of can bear a comparifon: 
with England in this refpect. The royal garden at Kew is un- 
doubtedly the firft in the world, and we have a number of others, 
both public and private, each of which may vie with the moft cele- 
brated gardens of other countries. Nor have we a lefs decided 
fuperiority in Cabinets. That of the Britith Mufeum, which con- 
tains among other things the original herbariums of Sloane, 
Plukenet, Petiver, Kempfer, Boerhaave, of many of the difciples of 
Ray, and feveral others, befides innumerable treafures of zoology, 
claims the firft place. That of the late Sir Afhton Lever ftands I 
believe unrivalled in birds and quadrupeds; not to mention many 
others. But is it not a reproach to the naturalifts of Great Bri- 
tain that fo many rarities fhould remain in their hands undefcribed ? 
that foreigners fhould eagerly catch at one or two plants obtained 
from our gardens, which we for years have been trampling under 
foot unnoticed? Yet how, till now, could fuch nondefcripts have 
been made publick? Large works in natural hiftory are expenfive 
and of hazardous fale; few private people can undertake them : 
nor has there hitherto been any fociety to which detached de- 
. feriptions could be communicated. It is altogether incompatible 
with the plan of the Royal Society, engaged as it is in all the 
branches of philofophy, to enter into the minutiæ of natural 
 hiftory ; fuch an inftitution therefore as ours is abfolutely neceí- 
fary, to prevent all the pains and expence of collectors, all the ex- 
perience of cultivators, all the remarks of real obfervers, from 
being loft to the world. ‘The flighteft piece of information which 
may tend to the advancement of the fcience we fhould thank- 
fully receive. However trifling in itfelf, yet combined with other 
facts, it may become important. Whatever relates to the deter- 
mination of fpecies, even in the loweft and feemingly unimportant 
tribes of nature’s works, ought never to be neglected, Nor let the 
humble 
