xxx P R E F A C E. 



I hud frankly recommended thefe enqui- 

 ries to the Royal Society of London, fo long 

 iiBfctt^Elh&jrEarejTfl^ Brir Lovers of fcience 



might have therefore .expected that greater 

 attention would have been paid to them in 

 this inquiiitive age, : aiid' in an enlightened 

 kingdom, fo powerful at fea, and which fends 

 many fhips every- ye&H^into the Archipe- 

 lago and the Mediterranean; and which 

 has generoufly employed, of late, expert na- 

 vigators and able philofophers, at the pub- 

 lic expence, to make difcoveries in the re- 

 moteft parrs of the world. 



Have thefe enquiries been poftponed as 

 trifling and uninterefling ? The inatten- 

 tion of the leading philofophers might 

 {tart fuch an idea, and feems to imply fome 

 public prejudice agamft them. But this 

 ,lon . an qTi IkrQ I 



1 Spsciir.cn hiftoriae naturalis giobi tcrraquei denovis e 

 mari natis infulis & ex his exaflius obrervatis confir- 



mancla Grxcorum & Hcokiana hypothtfi de montium & 

 corporum petrifaclorum origine. Auifrelodami, 1763, 

 8vo. dedicated to tlie late arl of Macclesiield, Freii- 

 clent of the Royal Society. ibfli 3d 13V3f| 



inatteu- 



