OF CURIOSITY. 175 



countries other fhells arc mnde life of for vari- 

 ous purpofcj; •, Ibme inOead of horns to blow 

 with at their reUgious ceremonies *, fonie for 

 vefTels for wafliino;-, fome for cups ; fome for 

 boxes •, fome for inlaying ; all of them fiir ex- 

 ceeding the bed artificial works. 



Nor are thofe innumerable petrifa^ions^ {o 

 various in fpecies, and ftru6lure, to be looked 

 upon as vain curiofiries. We find in our moun- 

 tains, and even in the middle of flones, as it 

 were embaumed, animals ^ jbellsj corals^ which 

 are not to be found alive in any part of Eu- 

 rope. Thefe alone, were there no other rea- 

 fon, might put us upon looking back into an- 

 tiquity, and conlidering the primitive form of 

 the earth, its increafe, and metamorphofis. 

 This is a fubjecl, that would require a whole 

 volume to treat it amply as it deferves. 



Wild heafts^ and ravenous birds ^ though 

 they feem to diflurb our private oeconomy, 

 are not without their ufes ; which we fhould 

 be fenfible of, if they v/ere extirpated "'. 



^ When 



z Thuc in ^ufTDlk, and in fome psrts of Norfolk, the 

 farrr.ejs f.r.ii 't their interefc to encourjgc the breed of rooks, 

 as the only means to free their grounds from the grub, 

 from which the tree or blind bt-etle come?, Vid. Liter's 

 Goedacl. p. 265. pi. III. Scarabseus. Melolontha. S. N. 10. 

 p. 351. which in its grub Ibte dcllroys the roots of corn 



and 



