VI PREFACE. 



it requires a discerning eye to know what rank to 

 assign them. Thus, quadrupeds and birds are 

 assimilated to each other by the bat ; the inhabit- 

 ants of the waters to those of the land by am- 

 phibious animals ; animals to vegetables, by the 

 leaf-insect, and by plants that appear to have 

 sensation ; and animate to inanimate, by the 

 oyster, the molluscse, and sea anemones. 



Reason and Instinct have obvious differences ; 

 yet the most intelligent animals, in some of their 

 actions, approach so near to reason, that it is really 

 surprising how small the distinction is. The 

 great and most striking superiority of reason 

 seems to consist in these two points : the capacity 

 of knowing and acknowledging our Creator, and 

 of rendering its owner responsible for his conduct. 

 Without investigating further the metaphysical 

 distinctions of Reason and Instinct, to which I am 

 quite incompetent, I will proceed to make some 

 apology for the following work. 



The harmonious beauty of creation, and the 

 interesting objects it presents, have been my de- 

 light from childhood ; and the enjoyments, as 

 well as the advantages, I have received from this 



