INTRODUCTION. nx 



and the powerful influence of the example afforded in himself, 

 were sufficient to win over to his opinion, those great men to 

 whom is confided the direction of public instruction in France. 



M. Cuvier was happy in demonstrating the necessity of uniting 

 to the study of antiquity, a contemplation of the most sublime 

 and durable spectacle of all nature and the laws which preserve 

 it in harmony ; and, that Natural History, which, only in our day, 

 has grown to be of importance, is an indispensable element in a 

 good education. 



The habit of classifying a great number of ideas in the mind, 

 and the art of methodizing which one necessarily learns while 

 pursuing Natural History, when once properly acquired, apply with 

 infinite advantage to studies of a most foreign and distinct charac- 

 ter. Every discussion which supposes a classification of facts, 

 every research requiring a distribution of materials, must be con- 

 ducted on the same laws; and the youth who, in the beginning, 

 thought to pursue this science only as an amusement, is surprised 

 at the facility with which it enables him to disentangle and arrange 

 affairs of all kinds. 



By proper management and precaution with children, it is easy 

 to avoid all those points which, by opening to it routes deceptive to 

 their early thoughts, might cause the imagination to err. Natural 

 History is a science of facts ; and one may, therefore, confine him- 

 self to the description of observable facts, and he will find nothing in 

 them, the knowledge of which can be, in the slightest degree, at 

 variance with morality or religion. These elementary notions, early 

 imparted to children, will contribute to the progress of their minds 

 and reason ; render the other studies to which they may dedicate 

 themselves more easy and more brilliant, and serve as a basis to 

 the more profound knowledge they may acquire in riper years. 



The spectacle of Nature presents a striking assemblage of all that 

 is most wise, most beautiful, most simple, and most wonderful ; the 

 whole, however, would be ephemeral, if God had not the secret of 

 harmoniously associating all these productions, of perpetuating them 

 in an immutable order, and of placing man in the midst of this 

 ever moving scene, that he might be as the mirror to reflect the 

 various images of the universe. 



B* 



