PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



IT has been objected to these Lessons, that the 

 children are instructed in the system of Linn.8eus, 

 one confessedly imperfect, instead of that of La- 

 marck, which has been drawn out since the 

 science has been enriched by modern discoveries. 

 This objection would be most reasonable if the 

 chief aim proposed in the work had been to teach 

 the science of conchology, but it is in fact simp- 

 ly what its name imports, LESSONS ON SHELLS ; 

 having for its object, to develope children's 

 powers of observation, comparison, and classifi- 

 cation : and to cultivate habits and tastes, which 

 may in after life lead to a more correct and scien- 

 tific study of the subject. Intellectual power and 

 not knowledge, being the desideratum, that system 

 should be pursued, which the children can work 

 out ; and there can be no doubt that the Lin- 

 nsean is the best adapted for this purpose. The 

 genera of Lamarck are principally determined by 

 the animal, which the children could not, with 

 the exception of a very few instances, have the 

 opportunity of examining ; indeed many of the 



