16 
the Arabian tales ; for they transport me instantly, not only 
to all places, but to all times. By my books I can conjure 
up before me, to vivid existence, all the great and good 
men of antiquity; and, for my individual satisfaction, I can 
make them act over again the most renowned of their ex- 
ploits : the orators declaim for me : the historians recite : the 
poets sing: and from the equator to the pole, or from the 
beginning of time until now, by my books I can be where 
I please.’” This picture is not overcharged, and might be 
much extended; such being God’s goodness and provi- 
dence, that each individual of the civilized millions that 
cover the earth, may have nearly the same enjoyments as 
if he were the single lord of all. 
Now books and museums are to the naturalist, what 
commerce, and manufactures, and steam, and navigation, are 
to all. In the pages of Sparrman, Vaillant, and Burchell, 
he may wander through the wilds of Africa, and study the 
histories of the hippopotamus, the giraffe, and the rhino- 
ceros, without the fatigues and dangers which those travel- 
lers had to undergo. With Humboldt, he may climb the 
Andes, and contemplate the eternal forests that clothe their 
gigantic sides. With Hasselquist he may examine the 
plants and animals of the Levant, with Linnzus visit the 
wilds of Lapland, and with Wilson and Audobon penetrate 
the glooms, the brakes, and swamps of the American 
woods, startling the feathered creation from the retreats 
which had never before been disturbed by human intrusion. 
By reading the works of men of science, he becomes ac- 
quainted with the natural history, so far as it is known, of 
the most remote countries of the earth; and of that of 
countries nearer home, he acquires the fullest information. 
The animals and plants, indeed, of almost every civilized 
