STUDY I. 



31 



become extinâ;. A new dynafty gives it a new 

 name -, thus the law has determined, to inftruâ: 

 Kings, that the defliny of their people was at- 

 tached to them, as that of their own family. Eu- 

 ropeans have deftroyed all thefe correfpondencies. 

 They Ihall for ever bear the punifhment of this 

 injuilice, as well as that of fo many other of 

 their violations ; for, obftinately perfevering in 

 giving what names they pleafe to the countries 

 which ihey feize, or in which they fettle, it comes 

 to pafs that, when you fee the fame countries on 

 maps, or in Dutch, Englifh, Portuguezc, Spanifli, 

 or French books of travels, you are utterly inca- 

 pable of diftinguifhing any thing. Their very 

 longitude is changed, for every Nation now makes 

 its own capital the firft meridian. 



Botanifts miflead us dill more. I have fpoken 

 of the perpetual variations of their diâiionaries; 

 but their method is no lefs faulty. They have de- 

 vifed, in order to diftinguilh plants, characters the 

 moft complicated, which frequently deceive them, 

 though derived from all the parts of the vegetable 

 kingdom, while they have never been able to ex- 

 prefs, by a lingle defcriptive term, their combina- 

 tion, from which the unlearned can diftinguifli 

 them at firft fight. They mud have magnifying 

 glafles and fcales, in order to clafs the trees of a 

 foreft. It is not fufficient to fee them ftanding 



ançL 



