NATUBAL HISTORY 



INTRODUCTORY REMAHKS. 



NATURAL HISTORY relates to all those objects upon the earth 

 which can be touched, just as Astronomy concerns all the stars 

 which we see around us in the heavens, but which we cannot 

 reach. 



Kingdoms. All natural objects are divided into three king- 

 doms. The first includes animals, and is called the animal 

 kingdom. The second includes plants, and is called the vegetable 

 kingdom. Lastly, we place in the mineral kingdom, all objects 

 which are neither animals nor plants ; that is, those which 

 have no life : stones, rocks, crystals, liquids, such as the water 

 we drink, and gases, such as the air we breathe. 



Animals have a mouth with which they eat their appropriate 

 food. They can also run, fly, swim or walk. If we approach 

 them, or attempt to seize and annoy them, they try to escape, 

 or show that they feel pain. Even the oyster will forcibly close 

 itself and resist if we try to open it, and we, therefore, say that 

 it feels. 



Plants also take nourishment, but in a different way from 



B 



