S92 The Life and Writings of Francis Huber. 



lifying to every expanded and religious mind, because it appears 

 to furnish a reason for a multitude of facts, the employment 'of 

 which, however, as is well known, is prone to lead the mind into 

 error; but we must do him the justice to acknowledge, that the 

 use he makes of them is always confined within the limits of phi- 

 losophical doubt and observation. He had, in early life, derived 

 ideas of this general nature from the Natural Theology of Der- 

 ham, and from the writings of his friend Ch. Bonnet; they found 

 a ready reception in his sensitive and elevated mind, which loved 

 to admire the Author of Nature in the harmony of his woj;ks. 

 His style is, in general, clear and elegant ; always retaining the 

 precision requisite to the didactic, it possesses the attraction which 

 a poetic imagination can readily confer upon all subjects ; but 

 one thing which particularly distinguishes it, and which we 

 should least expect, is, that he describes facts in a manner so 

 picturesque, that in reading them, we f^ncy that we can see the 

 very objects, which the author, alas, was never able to see ! In 

 reflecting on this singular quahty in the style of a blind man, the 

 difficulty appeared to be solved in thinking of the efforts which 

 he must have made in arranging and connecting the statements 

 of his assistants, so as to form in his own mind a complete image 

 of the facts. We who enjoy, often with so much indifference, 

 those valuable senses by which we are enabled to embrace at 

 once such a diversity of objects, and so many parts of the same 

 object, often neglect to study those parts upon which others are 

 dependent, and which ought to claim the first place in the ex- 

 planation ; our descriptions are often confused, precisely because 

 our impressions of objects are made simultaneously and without 

 effort. But Huber was obliged to hsten with attention to the 

 recital of others, to class them methodically, to reproduce an 

 image of the object by his own conceptions ; and his written 

 narration, after this laborious operation, presents the subject to 

 our view, under all the aspects which have enlightened his own. 

 1 venture also to add, that we find in his descriptions so many 

 masterly touches, as to justify the conclusion, that if he had re- 

 tained his sight he would have been like his father, his brother*, 

 and his son, a skilful painter. 



• Jean Daniel Huber, a skilful painter of animals. 



