ANIMAL REPRODUCTIONS.  28§ 
* feems, by a fatal deftiny, that the luminous and 
¢ufeful difcoveries of every period have been 
doomed to meet with bitter opponents, who, 
‘ though unable to oppofe thofe beneficent rays 
‘ diffufing around and difpelling darknefs, yet 
* have fometimes tended to retard the advance- 
* ment of fcience. . If lam not miftaken, this ob- 
‘ ftruétion to human knowledge fprings from 
‘two fources; from prefumption, which is com- 
«monly the child of envy, and from pride.— 
* From prefumption ; becaufe fome, who difdain, 
* obfervation, know not, and cannot perfuade 
‘themfelves that the things which furpafs the 
“bounds of their limited underftanding are true : 
* hence, unacquainted with what is wonderful and 
¢ uncommon in the admirable works of nature, 
‘they deny all which they are ignorant of. 
«—From envy, on the other hand, becaufe there 
* are certain defpiteful men, who will fit on their 
¢ chairs, and, conceiving themfelves very learned, 
¢ ean ill abide that others know more than them. 
_*felves: then erecting a tribunal, and, incapable 
“of doing any thing elfe, they imperioufly con- 
_ ©demn whatever oppofes them, or interrupts 
‘ their progrefs to the fummit of that glory, which 
« they imagine themfelves alone entitled to en- 
& j0y- : 
‘ But among thefe, I certainly cannot number 
*M. Adanfon, Wartel, Cotté, and fo many 
) * more, 
