PREFACE, 



NATURAL HISTORY is, of aii sciences, the 



most important and extensive. Its object is, to observe 

 and classify the various appearances of nature, as they 

 present themselves spontaneously, while undisturbed 

 by the intervention of human art. Thej general phe- 

 nomena of the universe, the wonders of the heavens, 

 the form and structure of the earth, animals, vegeta- 

 bles, fossils, and inanimate bodies of all species, fall, 

 therefore, under its observation. Whatever can be dis- 

 covered of any of these, by an attentive survey ; or 

 by carefully watching those changes to which they 

 are naturally subject, is recorded by the naturalist, in 

 order that it may be added to the materials of some 

 other science or some art, or that it enlarge the gene- 

 ral experience of mankind. 



Although thus important, thu* extensive, and thus 

 generally interesting, it was late in the progress of 

 knowledge, before natural history assumed a regular 

 form, or began to be cultivated as a distinct branch of 

 science. Many theories of the earth and heavens had 

 been imagined ; the science of ethics had been success-* 

 fully cultivated in all its different branches ; the most 

 important theorems in mathematics had been demon- 

 strated, and the most intricate problems solved ; when 

 Aristotle, the father of natural history, first attempted 

 to collect a body of facts belonging to this department 

 of knowledge, and to arrange them in scientific order. 

 Taste and genius had passed their meridian at Rome, 

 Vel I. A3 



