ANIMALS. 135 



presenting themselves to the view. It is method 

 that fixes the attention to one point, and leads it, 

 by slow and certain degrees, to leave no part of 

 nature unobserved. 



All naturalists, therefore, have been very care- 

 ful in adopting some method of classing or group- 

 ing the several parts of nature ; and some have 

 written books of natural history with no other 

 view. These methodical divisions some have 

 treated with contempt,* not considering that 

 books in general are written with opposite views 

 some to be read, and some only to be occasional- 

 ly consulted. The methodists in natural history 

 seem to be content with the latter advantage, and 

 have sacrificed to order alone all the delights of 

 the subject, all the arts of heightening, awaken- 

 ing, or continuing curiosity. But they certainly 

 have the same use in science that a dictionary has 

 in language ; but with this difference, that in a 

 dictionary we proceed from the name to the defi- 

 nition ; in a system of natural history, we pro- 

 ceed from the definition to find out the thing. 

 Without the aid of system, nature must still have 

 lain undistinguished, like furniture in a lumber 

 room ; every thing we wish for is there, indeed, 

 but we know not where to find it. If, for in- 

 stance, in a morning excursion, I find a plant, or 

 an insect, the name of which I desire to learn, 

 or perhaps am curious to know whether already 

 known ; in this inquiry I can expect information 

 only from one of these systems, which, being 



* M. BufTon in his Introduction, Sec. 



