operations* Button, the great p 

 painter of nature, conscious of the brilliant 

 energies of his own expansive mind, affects to 

 soar above what he calls the trammels of system, 

 and despises all Artificial a t range me nts, saying* 

 that ' r all our families and generations are made 

 by ourselves, and not by Nature, which knows 

 toothing of these tiislinctions k The system of 

 Linnaeus, which is considered by naturalists a* 

 the most perfect of all those that have been in- 

 vented, is a monument of the ingenuity and in- 

 dustry of that great man; but appears too com* 

 piex and artificial for common readers, or young 

 students, whose circumstances, occupations, 

 pursuits, and future prospects* do not permit 

 them to make the study of natural history the 



s: ness of their lives, 



To dtftsemitmh* the knmvletlgg <>f nu lorn ted 

 awsng all raub of pef*p)^ the easiest 

 and that which is certainly beH adapted 

 lo the general ideas of mankind is^ to range the 

 different orders according to their visible resem-i 

 glance to some well known animal, which exhi- 

 bits a characteristic distinction, obvious at th? 

 first sight, without, burdening the memory will) 

 artificial systems and scientific discriminations^ 



If this work had been designed for the use of 

 those who make tiie knowledge of natural his- 

 tory the principal object of their pursuit, the 

 Linnaean system would certainly have b^erj 

 adopted aad strictly adhered to; but it is calcu- 



