PREFACE. 



IF the study of the Sciences is so much neglected in England 

 at present, it is certainly not for the want of illustrious professors. 

 Nevertheless, the great majority of all classes are scarcely ac- 

 quainted with even the rudiments of these branches of knowledge, 

 because the primary instruction of children does not include any of 

 these very useful sciences, which would be a real amusement to 

 them, and which are of such numerous and frequent application 

 in the arts, industry, agriculture, commerce, and, in short, the 

 ordinary business of life. 



What is to be done to remedy this state of things? We 

 must inspire and develop a taste for the sciences from infancy, 

 and for this purpose must select one of the simplest and most 

 attractive practical sciences, which is also of very frequent appli- 

 cation. Natural History will certainly answer our purpose best. 

 In truth, the peculiar attraction which natural history possesses 

 for children is so striking, that most writers of elementary 

 books try to make them interesting to the scholars by 

 giving pictures and descriptions of animals. Unfortunately, these 

 pictures are often bad, and represent the rat of the same size as 

 the lion, and thus tend to mislead the notions of children ; and 

 the descriptions are generally no better than the pictures in this 

 respect. We were inclined to think that natural objects, or good 

 diagrams, of the natural size, and coloured, would amuse the pupil, 



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