,36 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



[Lesson 1. 



It was Linnaeus who first practically pointed outthe necessity and utility of studying 

 natural history by some system, and to him we are indebted for the fir-t I'IMNCITLES OF 

 CLASSIFICATION. 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



QUESTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS. 



1. T. WHAT is Natural History ? 



P. It is the study of Nature in all her 

 departments, treating of, and examining 

 abstractedly, each of the properties of all 

 moveable and extended bodies, animate 

 or inanimate, and having for its object 

 the special application of the laws recog- 

 nised by the various branches of GeneraJ 

 Physics to the numerous and different 

 beings which exist, in order to explain the 

 phenomena they each present in their sin- 

 gle characters and relation to each other, 

 to the proximate objects among which they 

 are found, and to nature generally. 



2. T. What is a naturalist ? 



P. A person who studies nature, espe- 

 cially the three great kingdoms. 



3. T. What do you mean by the three 

 great kingdoms ? 



P. The animal, vegetable, and mineral 

 kingdoms. 



4. T. Does not Natural History in- 

 clude all natural objects existing in space? 



P. Yes ; but as the subject would be 

 too extensive, it has "been divested of 

 such sciences as astronomy, meteorology, 

 geology, and metallurgy, &c., that pro- 

 perly belong to it. and is now generally 

 understood to signify only the three great 

 kingdoms. 



5. T. How have these divisions in 

 Natural History been accomplished ? 



P. By learned men observing, com- 

 paring, and classifying the bodies that 

 surround them. 



6'. T. What is the use of classifying 

 objects? 



P. To establish systems or methods. 



7. T. What do you mean by a system? 



P. A sjstem is a great catalogue, in 

 which all objects have their appointed 

 place, distinguished by known names, dis- 

 tinctive characters, and relation*. 



8- T. Is there more than one system ? 



P" Yes; there is a natural and an arti- 

 ficial system, and various naturalists have 

 established systems of their own. 



9. 7'. What is meant by a natural 



system ? 



P- A classification and arrangement of 

 the objects in nature, based on certain 

 fundamental principles, which, so far as the 

 laws of Nature are known, are found to be 

 general throughout all her productions. 



10. T. What, then, is an artificial sys- 

 tem ? 



P. A method established to elucidate 

 the resemblances^ which one species bears 

 to others in all their varied and complex 

 relations, directing us to the precise point 

 upon which we require information. 



11. I 1 . What are the uses of these 

 systems ? 



P. The natural system depends upon 

 the artificial. Thus, we turn to the latter 

 to arrive at a fact ; but if we desire to know 

 how that fact bears upon other facts, we 

 turn to the former. 



12. T. You have made use of the terms 

 nature and natural very often ; will you 

 explain their meaning? 



P- NATURE is used to denote the laws 

 which govern the beings that surround us 

 in the works of creation ; nature is em- 

 ployed to denote the peculiarity of a body 

 thus it is the NATURE of some bodies to 

 burn ; others; to become converted into 

 vapour, &c. ; and nature may be intended 

 to convey to the mind that such bodies are 

 not altered by art or civilization, that they 

 are, in fact, in a state of nature. Natural 

 may be applied to express to another that 

 such a body is not artificial or made by 

 human agency ; it may be used to particu- 

 larize certain qualities in an object ; thus, 

 it it natural for a do>* to krk, and walk 



