96 STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



they may be considered, in most cases, equally ap- 

 plicable both to the vegetable and the mineral. 



(44.) Let us now consider the objects, whether 

 immediate or remote, which this science compre- 

 hends, and the advantages that may be expected to 

 result from its study. We shall regard it, first, as 

 intellectual ; secondly, as recreative ; and thirdly, as 

 affecting the ordinary business of life. 



(45.) It may be received as an indisputable 

 truth, that no studies are so well suited to the in- 

 tellectual powers of man, as those that relate to the 

 forms and the phenomena of Nature. Between 

 these, and such as are confined to human skill or to 

 human erudition, there is this remarkable difference : 

 that in the former we contemplate things which, in 

 themselves, are perfect, because they emanate from 

 the Fountain of Perfection ; whereas in the latter 

 our attention is absorbed in things which, at the 

 best, are imperfect, however exquisite may be the 

 art which produced them, or however learned or 

 acute may be the labours of their authors. The 

 painter or the sculptor may delight us by the faith- 

 fulness of their delineations ; the poet may please us 

 by the harmony of his verses ; the historian instruct 

 us by the narrative of circumstances and persons 

 before unknown to us. But all these subjects, how- 

 ever interesting or pleasing, are alloyed with that 

 imperfection and unsatisfactoriness which enter into 

 every human performance : they chiefly, if not ex- 

 clusively, refer our thoughts to their authors ; or if 

 we even discover no imperfection which mars the 

 painting or the statue — no word which destroys 

 the harmony of the poet's verse, or no imagery which 



