INTRODUCTION. 



THE object of this work is to bring before the reader a 

 simple and intelligible description of the whole Creation, 

 without attempting to enter into minute particulars on any 

 of the subjects more than is sufficient to present them 

 in a form clear enough to be both comprehended, and 

 recollected; thus aiming at the production of a taste for 

 such knowledge, and a desire to enter more minutely into 

 any or all of the subjects this work embraces, which desire 

 can easily be gratified by a study of some of the many 

 excellent works devoted exclusively to the individual parts, 

 which in this work are treated of collectively. The want 

 of a general knowledge of those works of the Great 

 Creator which are constantly spread out before us, in 

 these days of easy acquirement, amounts almost to a sin, 

 for it is by the study of Nature in all her varied forms and 

 associations, that we learn to "look from Nature up to 

 Nature's God ;" for who can look upon the works of God 

 without a feeling of awe and admiration ? who can look 

 upwards at "the spacious firmament on high," without 

 a sense of his own insignificance ? who can gaze around 

 upon the beauty and variety the earth displays, without 

 a strong desire to know more of such a Great Creator's 

 works ? and he who knows the most, be sure it is he 

 who will worship Him with the truest and most heart- 

 felt gratitude and admiration. The works of God (next 

 to the Divine revelation of His will) are the highest 

 studies to which Man can apply his intellect; it has 

 required the greatest study of the greatest minds to find 

 out and record but a few facts to add to the general 

 store, and surely no one should consider his time misspent 

 who can read over such records, and trace their truth by 

 comparison with Nature, the more especially as it is by 

 these means a love of inquiry is engendered, and that 



