134 HISTORY OF 



partners in the creation. But, in such a wonder- 

 ful variety as is diffused around us, where shall 

 we begin ? The number of beings endued with 

 life as well as we, seems, at first view, infinite. 

 Not only the forest, the waters, the air, teems 

 with animals of various kinds ; but almost every 

 vegetable, every leaf, has millions of minute in- 

 habitants, each of which fills up the circle of its 

 allotted life, and some of them are found objects 

 of the greatest curiosity. In this seeming exube- 

 rance of animals, it is natural for ignorance to lie 

 down in hopeless uncertainty, and to declare what 

 requires labour to particularize to be utterly in- 

 scrutable. It is otherwise, however, with the 

 active and searching mind : no way intimidated 

 with the immense variety, it begins the task of 

 numbering, grouping, and classing all the various 

 kinds that fall within its notice ; finds every day 

 new relations between the several parts of the 

 creation, acquires the art of considering several 

 at a time under one point of view ; and at last 

 begins to find, that the variety is neither so great 

 nor so inscrutable as was at first imagined. As, 

 in a clear night, the number of the stars seems 

 infinite, yet, if we sedulously attend to each in 

 its place, and regularly class them, they will soon 

 be found to diminish, and come within a very 

 scanty computation. 



Method is one of the principal helps in natural 

 history, and without it very little progress can be 

 made in this science. It is by that alone we can 

 hope to dissipate the glare, if I may so express it, 

 which arises from a multiplicity of objects at once 



