INTRODUCTION. 



surround him, invests each untried locality with new charms, 

 and presents to him, on all sides, fresh objects to repay his 

 researches. Their forms, habits, powers, and structure are all 

 so many indices to the great work he is every day invited to 

 peruse. 



To point out to the learner the most proper objects of at- 

 tention, or the best mode of arriving at a competent know- 

 ledge of their various peculiarities, does not come within the 

 limits of the present Introduction ; yet the gradations observed 

 in the great field of animated nature indicate the preliminary 

 steps for the commencement of his operations. 



The occasional and sometimes alternate developement of 

 internal and external organisation, each division advancing in 

 the degree of its perfection as the animal rises higher in the 

 scale, seems to indicate the natural order of progress. The 

 slow and creeping caterpillar sinks into a state of lethargy, 

 ultimately to burst forth with organs and powers of loco- 

 motion the most opposed to its former condition. 



Fishes, .reptiles, and birds furnish additional examples of 

 an adaptation, of parts, admirably suited to the exigencies of 

 the animals, yet possessing and affording capabilities of the 

 most opposite character ; and the rudiments of extremities 

 furnished to the cetacea, become ultimately perfected in ani- 

 mals of the same class, for the individual but opposite powers 

 of climbing, burrowing, flying, prehension, and speed. 



Thus agreeably led on, the zoologist is brought by degrees 

 to the contemplation of man, the image of the Creator of all; 

 and finds that, although man does not in himself possess all 

 the different qualities of the organs of each individual beneath 

 him, yet he presents, in the varied and extensive combination 

 of his powers, that balance of perfection, which, independently 

 of mental endowment, stamps him the head of his own as 

 well as of every other class. 



The study of mineral bodies is of the greatest importance : 

 for what would civilised man be without iron ? The different 

 ores, and the various useful or precious stones, display great 

 variety in structure, colour, and other properties. Many 

 species are highly beautiful, others are prized for their rarity, 

 and all are interesting with reference to crystalography, 

 systematic arrangement, and the useful arts. The study of 

 mineralogy is intimately connected with that of geology ; and 

 the utility of both, in the discovery and working of quarries 

 and mines, is sufficiently evinced by the stones and metals 

 which enter into the construction of our houses, roads, 

 machines, and implements. 



