15 



tendencies of the judgement to be biased and cor- 

 rupted by particular courses of study or habits of 

 life ; the imperfection of language ; a blmd rever- 

 ence for antiquity ; the influence of the visionary 

 theories and romantic philosophies which prevail in 

 the world ; and last, though not least, a slavish pros- 

 tration to the authority of great names. 



But Natural History was not one of the favorite 

 pursuits of the revivers of literature ; and it was 

 not till long after the effects of Bacon's method of 

 investigation had been felt in other sciences, that 

 any very sensible improvement took place in those 

 whose object is to make us acquainted with the 

 works of nature. And yet the scholars of that pe- 

 riod displayed a degree of industry in collecting facts, 

 or rather stories, (for a small part only of them were 

 true) which appears almost incredible. Conrad Ges- 

 ner, the most considerable of them, is styled by Hal- 

 ler " a monster of erudition." Some other cause 

 must therefore be sought to account for the phenom- 

 enon ; and the grand secret which explains the \\ hole 

 is the want of system. It is system in the application 

 of powers which were before often antagonizing or 

 inert, and in the arrangement of facts and fragments 

 of knowledge, which,- like the scattered sybilline 

 leaves, were without meaning or use, that has been 

 the grand engine of advancement in the sciences, 

 arts and literature of modern times. But as we 

 understand the term, neither the ancients nor mod- 

 erns, till towards the close of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury, had any system in their study of nature. 



