154 EMINENT NATURALISTS. 



easily form for himself this second division — quad- 

 rupeds, fishes, "birds ; and the same in the vegetable 

 kingdom, with trees and plants, he will very readily 

 distinguish them, whether by their height, substance, 

 or general appearance." The following is what he 

 says on this matter : — 



" This is what the simple inspection must necessarily 

 give him, and what, with very slight attention, he 

 cannot fail in recognising ; this is also what we ought 

 to regard as real, and respect as a division given by 

 Nature herself. Afterwards, let us put ourselves in 

 the place of this man, or let us suppose that he has 

 acquired the same amount of knowledge and experience 

 as we ourselves possess, he will come to judge the 

 objects of natural history by their relation with 

 himself; those which are the most necessary, the 

 most useful to him, will hold the first place. For 

 example, he will give the preference in the order 

 of animals to the dog, the ox, &c, and he will 

 always be better acquainted with those which will 

 be the most familiar to him, and afterwards he will 

 occupy himself with those which, without being 

 familiar, still inhabit the same localities, and the same 

 climate, as the deer tribe, the hare, and all wild animals, 

 and it will not be until he has acquired a thorough 

 knowledge of all these animals that his curiosity will 

 lead him to the research of those inhabiting foreign 

 climates, as the elephant, the dromedary, &c. The 

 same process will be gone through with regard to fishes, 

 birds, insects, shells, minerals, and in fact, all the other 

 productions of nature ; he will study them in proportion 



