I. TO HAMPSTEAD. Cl 



produce disgust and nnhappiness ; the lat- 

 ter, on the contrary, furnish inexhaustible 

 enjoyment, and yield always increased de- 

 light to the mind. 



Where is the mortal who can flatter him- 

 self with having discovered the hundred- 

 thousandth part of the prodigies which the 

 inspection of the smallest objects presents 

 to our curiosity ? The study of nature is 

 infinite. Hence it is, that, to make any 

 progress in such pursuits, it is necessary 

 to confine ourselves to a particular division. 

 Thus, some adopt zoology ; others botany ; 

 while others, again, devote themselves to'the 

 science of mineralogy. Some students, 

 dismayed even by the magnitude of one 

 of these departments of science; devote 

 their whole attention to a particular sub- 

 division; as, for example, many zoologists 

 only cultivate the study of insects, others 

 that of fishes ; while several restrict their 

 researches to a single species of animals. 

 Thus, as I have before observed, nature is 



infinite 



