vi PREFACE. 



but with this difference, that in the dictionary of words we are led from 

 the name of the thing to its definition ; whereas in the system of na- 

 tural history, we are led from the definition to find out the name. 



Such are the efforts of writers, who have composed their works with 

 great labour and ingenuity, to direct the learner in his progress 

 through Nature, and to inform him of the name of every animal, plant, 

 or fossil substance, that he happens to meet with ; but it would be only 

 deceiving the reader, to conceal the truth, which is, that books alone 

 can never teach him this art in perfection; and the solitary student can 

 never succeed. Without a master, and a previous knowledge of many 

 of the objects of Nature, his book will only serve to confound and dis- 

 gust him. Few of the individual plants or animals, that he may hap- 

 pen to meet with, are in that precise state of health, or that exact period 

 of vegetation, from whence their descriptions were taken. Perhaps he 

 meets the plant only with leaves, but the systematic writer has describ- 

 ed it in a flower. Perhaps he meets the bird before it has moulted its 

 first feathers, while the systematic description was made in its state of 

 full perfection. He thus ranges without an instructor, confused, and 

 with sickening curiosity from subject to subject, till at last he gives 

 up the pursuit, in the multiplicity of his disappointments. 



Some practice, therefore, much instruction, and diligent reading, 

 are requisite to make a ready and expert naturalist, who shall be able, 

 even by the help of a system, to find out the name of every object he 

 meets with. But when this tedious, though requisite part of study is 

 attained, nothing but delight and variety attend the rest of his jour- 

 ney. Wherever he travels, like a man in a country where he hag 

 many friends, he meets with nothing but acquaintances and allure- 

 ments in all the stages of his way. The mere uninformed spectator 

 passes on in gloomy solitude ; but the naturalist, in every plant, in every 

 insect, and every pebble, finds something to entertain his curiosity, 

 and excite his speculation. 



From hence it appears, that a system may be considered as a dic- 

 tionary in the study of Navure. The ancients, however, who have all 

 written most delightfully on this subject, seem entirely to have rejected 

 those humble and mechanical helps to science. They contented 

 themselves with seizing upon the great outlines of history, and pass- 

 ing over what was common, as not worth the detail, they only dwelt 

 upon what was new, great and surprising, and sometimes even warm- 

 ed the imagination at the expense of truth. Such of the moderns as 

 revived this science in Europe, undertook the task more methodically, 

 though not in a manner so pleasing. Aidrovandus, Gesner, and John- 

 son seemed desirous of uniting the entertaining and rich descriptions of 

 the ancients with the dry and systematic arrangement, of which they 

 were the first projectors. This attempt, however, was extremly im- 

 perfect, as the great variety of Nature was, as yet, but very inadequately 

 known. Nevertheless, by attempting to carry on both objects at once, 

 first of directing us to the name of the thing, and then giving the detail 

 of its history, they drew out iheir works into a tedious and unreasonable 

 length ; and thus, mixing incompatible aims, they have left their labours 

 rather to be occasionally consulted, than read with delight, by posterity. 



The later moderns, with that good sense which they have carried 

 int" every other part of science, have taken a different method 



