132 Dr. Per civ al on the 



lefs capacity for enjoyment feems to be its necef- 

 fary adjunift. Indefinite and low, therefore, as this 

 capacity may be, in each fingle herb or tree, yet, 

 when we confider the amazing extent of the vege- 

 table kingdom, " from the cedar of Lebanon eo 

 the hyfTop upon the wall," the aggregate of happi- 

 nefs, produced by it, will be found to exceed our 

 mofl enlarged conceptiorts. It is prejudice only, 

 which reftrains or fuppreiTes the delightful emo- 

 tions, rcfuking from the belief of fuch a diffufion 

 of good. And, becaufe the framers of fyftems 

 have invented arrangements and divifions of 

 the works of God, to aid the mind in the 

 purfuits of fcience, we implicitly admit as 

 reality, what is merely artificial; and adopt 

 diftindtions, without proof of any eflential dif- 

 ference. Lapides crejcunt ; vegetahil'ta crejcunt et 

 'vivunt; anhnalia crejcunt, vivunt, et Jentiunt. This 

 climax, of Linnaeus, is conformable to the doc- 

 trines of Ariflotle, Pliny, Jungius, and others: 

 But none of thefe great men have adduced fufTi- 

 cient evidence, to fupport the negative charac- 

 teriftics, if I may fo cxprefs myfelf, on which 

 the three kingdoms of nature are here eftablifhed* 

 That a gradation fubfifts, in the fcale of beings, 

 is clearly manifeft; but the higher advances we 

 make in phyfical knowledge, the nearer wiH 

 the degrees be feen to approach each other. 

 And it is no very extravagant conjeflure to fup- 

 pofe, that, m fome future period, perceptivity 



may 



