264 STUDIES OF ÎÎATURE. 



with the ardor of my imagination, and the antici- 

 pations of my heart. But the imperfedt materials, 

 which I have bufied myfelf in colledling, may, 

 perhaps, one day, affift men of greater ability, 

 and in a happier fituation, in railing to Nature a 

 temple more worthy of her. Recolledl, my dear 

 Reader, that all I promifed you was the frontif- 

 piece and the ruins of it. 



OF CONFORMITY. * 



Though Conformity be a perception of our rea- 

 fon, I place it at the head of phyfical Laws, be- 



• * I do not know any fingie word in our langaage which ex- 

 prefTes clofely the import of the French word convenance. It 

 fignifies fuitablenefs^ correfpondence^ the exa^ adaptation of one 

 thing to another. I employ the term conformity, as coming the 

 nearefl: to our Author's idea of any one that occurred to my 

 mind. Whoever has attempted tranflation muft, frequently, 

 have felt the difficulty of rendering certain ivords by exaftly 

 equivalent words, though he was at no lofs where general 

 meaning and expreffion were concerned ; for there is no perfeft 

 convenance between language and language. I wifh it to be un- 

 derllood, then, that wherever the word conforjnity occurs, in the 

 immediate fequel of this Tranflation, the meaning is, a com- 

 plete coincidence, congruity, or tallying of objeâ: with objeft, 

 as a bone fitted to it's focket, as the undulations of a paper 

 check to thofe of it's counter-check, as eye to eye, hand to 

 hand, foot to foot ; and it applies equally to natural and to 

 pioral objeds. . H. H. 



caufe 



