8 LECTURE I. 



who, I believe, was the late Mr. Philip Thicknesse, 

 as a new, and till then unheard-of animal, of which 

 he believed himself to have been the first describer. 

 To a total ignorance of the real nature of ani- 

 mals (excusable in ancient times, but not so in mo- 

 dern) must be attributed the numerous histories of 

 showers of frogs and mice, and other animals ; the 

 raining of blood ; the change of certain Frogs into. 

 Fishes, and back again from Fishes to Frogs, 

 with many other particulars equally extravagant} 

 and from these and many other instances which 

 might be adduced, we may perceive what mistaken 

 notions may be adopted by those, who otherwise 

 well informed, happen to have paid little or no re- 

 gard to the general doctrines of Natural History. 

 Natural History at large, divides itself into what 

 are called the three Kingdoms of Nature ; viz. the 

 animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdom. 



Of these the Zoological or animal kingdom is 

 what naturally engages our first attention, and 

 seems to claim a superiority over the rest. It 

 would be unnecessary to add, that Zoology com- 

 prizes the whole animal world, or all those beings 

 which are called by the name of Quadrupeds, 

 Birds, Amphibia, Fishes, Insects, Testaceous 



