THE STUDY OF NATURE. 277 



Atheists, and Irreligionists are to be met with too 

 frequently ; and if it has happened, that one or two 

 of these have been the authors of works on Natural 

 Science, and a few of them also students in it, we 

 should not thence argue, that this subject has given 

 rise to their views, or that Natural History and 

 Irreligion are in any way connected. It has how- 

 ever happened, and we regret to state it, that 

 natural philosophers have sometimes advanced athe- 

 istical opinions during their reasonings on some 

 abstruse subjects ; which they appear never before 

 to have entertained, and which we sincerely believe 

 they have afterwards had occasion to feel sorry at 

 having inculcated. 



In regard to Geology, many persons are unneces- 

 sarily tenacious of any infringement on the generally 

 received interpretation of that portion of the Bible 

 where the creation and flood are spoken of, but let 

 it be observed that, among those who think it is ge- 

 nerally misunderstood, are men of undoubted piety 

 and worth, and that even if some geologists chose to 

 maintain that the book of Genesis was an allegorical 

 or fictitious narrative, the doctrines of religion and 

 morality are thereby no ways derogated. Let us 

 now turn to the arguments in favour of the study of 

 nature. We should not do justice to the subject, 

 nor to ourselves as advocates, were we to speak too 

 generally ; we shall rather show that the cultivation 

 of the knowledge of nature will benefit mankind at 

 large, besides the individual himself, who labours so 

 zealously in elucidating it ; that it will benefit the 

 uncivihzed as well as the polished nation, that it will 

 benefit any individual, whether learned or unlearned, 

 that it will have an influence modified according to 

 the character of the mind it is applied to, an influence 

 always salutary if the subject be rightly understood. 

 If we refer to the works of those naturalists who have 

 explored foreign countries, or who have laboured to 

 make themselves acquainted with the properties and 

 uses of the productions of their own countries, we 



