NATURAL HISTORY. 
unacquainted with the district, with a guide to 
exhibitits general character, facilitate his researches 
and economize his time, by directing him at once 
to the objects he may wish to obtain or examine ; 
and secondly, to create a lecal interest in the neigh- 
bourhood, for this delightful study, and to stimulate 
the curiosity of those residing in it to investigate the 
treasures that surroundthem, By interleaving the 
volume, any facts, observations, or additions that 
the researches of any individual enable him to make, 
will be kept together in a systematic manner, and 
easily referred to ; whilst the references it supplies to 
the best plates, and descriptions of the various sub 
jects, cannot fail to facilitate considerably the pro- 
gress of the young naturalist. 
Natural science has now become so popular, that 
any arguments setting forth its importance and uti- 
lity would be superfluous. ‘‘It tends,’? says an 
able naturalist, ‘‘to keep alive the better feelings 
and more valuable energies of our nature; affording 
to youth delights equally pure and vivid—to matu- 
rity, calm and grateful occupation—to old age, the 
most pleasing materials for agreeable and salutary 
reflection, and whilst their votary enjoys the disin- 
terested pleasure of enlarging the intellect, and in- 
creasing the comforts of society, he is himseif 
independent of the caprices of human intercourse 
and the accidents of human fortune, Nature is his 
great and inexhaustible treasure, his days are 
always too short for his enjoyment, ennui is a 
stranger to his door; at peace with the world, 
