viii PREFACE. 



devised, and has met with proportionate 

 success. 



By beginning ab initio, by lowering the 

 first steps to the temple of knowledge, 

 by removing the obstructions which first 

 oppose the desire for progress and improve- 

 ment, implanted for the wisest purposes 

 in every active and ingenuous mind, many 

 persons may be tempted to proceed, till, by 

 a little perseverance, they become masters 

 of the science they otherwise would not 

 have ventured to encounter. For such rea- 

 sons, the good sense of the well-informed 

 has induced them to write elementary books 

 on the subject of natural history, adapted 

 to the use of those who are less capable 

 than themselves of searching for, and col- 

 lecting together, all the information which 



