PREFACE. 



E 



iVERY Prefece, befide occafional or csplanator)' remarks, 

 fhould contain not only the general defign of the v/ork, but the motives and 

 circumftances which induced the author to write upon that particular fubje(5l;. 

 If this plan had been univerfally obferved, prefaces would have exhibited a fliort, 

 but a curious and ufeful, hiftory both of literature and of authors. Influenced 

 by this idea, I Ihall give a very compendious account of the origin, dcS^n, and 

 progrefs of the following work. 



About fifteen years ago, in a converfation with the late worthy, refpeda* 

 ble, and ingenious Lord KAMES,upon the too general neglc<5l of natural know- 

 ledge, His Lordfhip fuggefled the idea of compofmg a Book on the Puiloso- 

 PHX- OF Natural History, In a work of this kind, he propofed that the 

 produ<5lions of Nature, which to us are almoft infinite, fliould, inftead of being 

 treated of individually, be arranged under general heads ; that, in each of thefe 

 divifions, the known fadls, as well as reafonings, fhould be colle6^ed and meth- 

 odifed in the form of regular difcourfes ; that as few technical terms as poffible 

 fhould be employed ; and that all the ufeful and amufing views arifing from the 

 different fubjevSls fhould be exhibited in fuch a manner as to convey both plea- 

 fure and information. 



This talk His Lordfhip was pleafed to think me not altogether unqualified 

 to attempt. The idea ilruck me. I thought that a work of this kind, if exe- 

 cuted even with moderate abilities, might excite a tafte for examining the vari- 

 ous objeds which every where folicit our attention. A habit of obfervation re- 

 fines our feelings. It is a fource of interefting amufement, prevents idle or vic- 

 ious propenfities, and exalts the mind to a love of virtue and of rational enter- 

 tainment. I likewife refleded, that men of learning often betray an ignorance 

 on the mod common fubjeds of Natural Hiltory, which it is painful to remark, 



I HAVE been occafionally employed, flnce the period which I have mention- 

 ed, in collecting and digefting materials from the molt authentic fources. Thefe 

 materials 1 have interfperfcd with fuch obfcrvations, reflexions, and reafonings, 

 as occurred to me from ccnfiderirg the multifarious fubjecfts of which I have 



