93 
PART: Ll. 
ON THE GENERAL NATURE AND ADVANTAGES OF 
THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY 
CHAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. — WHAT NATURAL HISTORY 
IS; — IN A GENERAL SENSE, AND AS NOW RESTRICTED. 
-— DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT. — REFLECTIONS ON 
NATURE AND ART.— DISTINCTIONS, AND OBJECT OF 
fHE STUDY. 
(41.) Coutp we suppose man had never known 
evil, —that he had continued, as at first created, a 
terrestrial, yet an immaculate being, alike a stranger 
to the bad passions and the inordinate desires that 
now agitate him, — what pursuits, may we suppose, 
would occupy his time? or upon what subjects would 
he exercise those powers of reason by which he is 
united to the spiritual world? The answer is obvious. 
The works of God, as manifested in all visible nature, 
would be his only study. Surrounded by innumerable 
objects attractive by their beauty, wonderful by their 
construction, or interesting by their economy, his 
days would be spent in surveying the material world ; 
— his heart enlarged, and his reason exercised, in 
