INTRODUCTION.* 



NATURAL HISTORY, which may be defined the intelligent con- 

 templation of the works of God, is in a manner the most certain 

 and the most noble subject, that can occupy the mind of man. In 

 it alone, human genius is in full possession of certainty. Philoso- 

 phy, politics, history, and morality itself, are subject to the intel- 

 lectual revolutions of wavering humanity; but the facts of the 

 Creation are as invariable as God, and the analysis of a plant or 

 an insect marks its demonstration with the seal of eternal truth. 



The double effect of the study of Natural History is to impart 

 certainty to the mind, and religion to the heart. The creation is 

 a visible ladder by which man ascends towards the invisible 

 CREATOR. 



Natural History, the science which is the mother of all sciences, 

 embraces the whole world ; physical knowledge, mathematical know- 

 ledge, are all comprehended in its domain ; and the teachings of 

 morality here mingle spontaneously with thoughts of religion. 



It has been said that Natural History should be the only reading- 

 book of the people ; I would add, it should be especially the first 

 book of childhood. Of all the means which we may successfully em- 

 ploy for awakening the intellect of young people, there is none, the 

 results of which are more certain or more durable than curiosity 

 the desire to know is as natural as reason ; it is vivid, and active 

 at every period of life, but it is never more so than in youth, when 

 the mind, destitute of knowledge, seizes upon all that presents 

 itself with avidity, and willingly gives the attention and study ne- 

 cessary to know, and very naturally contracts the habit of reflection, 

 and of being occupied. 



Extracted from the "Atlas Methodique," of Natural History. 



(xvii) 



