T i PREFACE. 



selves with examining authorities, or balancing the evi- 

 dence on the different sides of disputed facts. To the 

 young it is peculiarly proper to recommend the study 

 of natural history ; and nothing but a detail of inter- 

 esting facts, in easy, correct, and perspicuous language, 

 can be put, with any prospect of utility, into their 

 hands. 



The compiler of this Abridgment has been guided 

 by these considerations in the performance of his task, 

 He has rejected, as far as was practicable, without 

 destroying the contexture of the work, all such of Buf- 

 fon's theories as appeared to him plainly ill-founded 

 and fanciful : he has left out that display of authori- 

 ties which Buffon had not always confined to his notes, 

 but frequently introduced into the text : and he has 

 often condensed his author's diffuse descriptions of the 

 forms and manners of animals, and abbreviated his 

 narrative of historical facts relative to them. He has 

 at the same time anxiously endeavoured to make this 

 Abridgment, a regular work, having consistency and 

 connexion through all its parts, not an awkward heap 

 of incoherent fragments. In the latter part, some ad- 

 ditions are introduced from other writers, and to the 

 whole is subjoined the NATURAL HISTORY OF 

 INSECTS, compiled chiefly from Srvammerdam, 

 Brookes, and Goldsmith ; and intended as a suitable 

 companion to the present Abridgment of BufFon'u 

 Work. 



