INTRODUCTION. 



(1.) NATURAL HISTORY has been said by some to 

 be a study of facts ; by others, a science of observa- 

 tion. Each of these statements is to a certain ex- 

 tent true : it is only by observation that we can 

 acquire a knowledge of the facts upon which all 

 ulterior views must be based. But neither does 

 this, nor any other science, rest satisfied with the 

 bare recording of isolated and independent pheno- 

 mena. It seeks to classify these phenomena, and 

 to comprise them within certain general principles, 

 established by inductive reasoning, to the influence 

 of which they may all ultimately be referred. Doubt- 

 less this is taking an extensive view of the subject, and, 

 when we contemplate the immensity of nature, en- 

 tering upon a field which it may require years to tra- 

 vel over, and which we may never be able to measure 

 in its full dimensions. Yet that there are such 

 principles as we allude to, is next to certain. Look- 

 ing only to the analogy of other sciences, we might 

 predicate -their existence ; when, however, we re- 

 gard further the frequent attempts which have been 

 made of late years to discover and fix them, and the 



