THE 



PHILOSOPHY 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER I. 



Di/l'mgui/hhig characters of Animals ^ Plants ^ and Minerals — The 

 Analogies between the plant and animal^ ariftngfrom their Jiruc- 

 ture and organs ^ their growth and nourijhmenty their dijjemina- 

 tion and decay* 



IN ATUR AL Bodies, when viewed as they have 

 a relation to man, are marked with chara£lers fo apparent, 

 that they efcape not the obfervaticn of the moft unenlight- 

 ened minds. In a fyftem where all the conftituent parts 

 have a reciprocal dependence, and are connected by relations 

 fo fubtile as to elude the perception of animals, fuch obvious 

 fcharaclers were indifpenfible. Without them, neither the 

 affairs of human life,, nor the fun£lions of the brute creation, 

 could be carried on. Chara£lers of this kind are accommo- 

 dated to the apprehenlion of brutes and of vulgar men. 



But, when the produ(Slions of nature are more clofely ex- 

 amined ; when they are fcrutinized by the eye of philofophy, 

 the number of their relations and differences is difcovered to 

 be almofl infinite ; and their lliades of difcrimination are 

 often fo delicate, that no fenfe can perceive them. Nothing 



B 



