42 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



country had not fiipplied him with provifions ? 

 Let Academies, then, accumulate machines, fyf- 

 tems, books, elogiums : the chief praife of all is 

 due to the ignorant, who furnilhed the firft ma- 

 terials. 



Advancing no higher claim, I prefume to con- 

 tribute my humble offering. It is the fruit of 

 many years of application, which, amidft ftorms 

 long and fevere, ftole away in thefe calm refearches, 

 like a fmgle day of ferenity. I earneftly wifhed, if 

 it fhould not be permitted me to reach a boun- 

 dary, at which to ftop, to communicate to others, at 

 lealt, the pleafure which I had enjoyed on my way. 



I have conveyed my obfervations in the beft 

 ftyle of which 1 am capable ; frequently ftepping 

 afide to the right hand and to the left, as the fub- 

 jeâ: carried me ; fometimes abandoning myfelf to 

 a multitude of projets, which the infinite intelli- 

 gence of Nature infpires ; fometimes dwelling 

 with complacency on happier feafons and fitua- 

 tions, which are never more to return ; fometimes 

 plunging into futurity, panting after a more fortu- 

 nate ftate of being, of which the goodnefs of Hea- 

 ven affords us now and then a glimpfe, through the 

 dark clouds of this wretched life. Defcriptions, 

 ccnjeâiures, perceptions, views, objeélions, doubts, 

 nay, my very ignorances, I have heaped all ori one 



pile i 



