238 APPENDIX. 



to me peculiarly and exclusively devoted to the conside- 

 ration of microscopists. 



Their natural history will be given by Mr. P., with 

 every particular likely to interest the reader concerning 

 their peculiar habits and instincts : such as their mode of 

 locomotion, and of taking their prey ; the food which 

 they most affect; their relative dispositions towards each 

 other, and other beings with whom they associate ; with 

 full directions how, when, and where to procure them ; 

 and how they may be preserved in health and vigour for 

 observation, &c. &c. 



I do not feel myself called upon to state more con- 

 cerning the nature and object of this work ; and 1 humbly 

 hope that truth and justice to myself and partner, and 

 our joint publication, does not require me to have said 

 less. 



I shall conclude this introduction by a vindication of 

 microscopic science and its votaries, from the aspersions 

 which have been cast upon them by the inconsiderate ; 

 many of whom have been pleased to assert, that micro- 

 scopes have, of late, received a degree of patronage from 

 the most illustrious and distinguished savans, to which 

 they are not legitimately entitled. Were they applicable 

 to no other purposes than the dissection of blackguard 

 vermin, the observation of stinking ditch-water, or the 

 amorous passions of ants and worms, I should, perhaps, 

 for argument's sake, admit that they were but the tools 

 of a puny, pitiful pedant, whose passions and amusements 

 were of a trifling, if not of a degrading complexion : but 



