PREFACE. Vl 



Natural History in general has been too much shunned, as 

 a science of hard names and intricate classification, by those 

 whose minds are occupied with the necessary employments 

 and cares of the world, and who seek in the pursuit of knowl- 

 edge a source of refreshment and relaxation. But the objects 

 of its several departments are not commonly understood. 

 The study includes the examination of the structure, habits, 

 mode of existence, and particularly the uses of all the living 

 beings which so thickly people the surface of the globe ; and 

 it is only in order to become acquainted with these more 

 readily, that the naturalist arranges or classifies them, placing 

 those together which have most in common, and separating 

 those which are widely different. Classification (one of 

 the most prominent divisions of this work) is not the object 

 of Natural History, but a means of gaining that object, and 

 it is very easy to enter upon many interesting inquiries 

 without the slightest knowledge of it. The structure and ac- 

 tions of man, for example, may be examined in the greatest 

 detail without knowing any thing of his place in the general 

 scale of being (although such knowledge will often shorten 

 the student's labor) ; and other kinds of animals may be ob- 

 served in the same manner. 



A second very prominent division of this work, constituting 

 the Natural History of each individual animal under consid- 

 eration, has been less brought under the notice of those who 

 pursue this study only for the improvement and recreation 

 of their minds, than it perhaps deserves. No one will dispute 

 the importance of the animal world in the economy of na- 

 ture, and therefore this particular department of the work 

 will lead those who may be disposed to enter upon the study 

 to a pursuit which cannot fail to prove an important source 

 of interest, delight, and improvement* It is adapted as 

 much as possible to such as have no previous information on 

 the subject, beyond that which all persons of ordinary capa- 

 city may gain by themselves, and at the same time it omits 

 no topic of high but less general interest, which those who 

 feel interested in the subject may wish fully and elaborately 

 treated. 



A third and perhaps the most important division of this 

 work is offered to supply a deficiency in this department of 

 medical literature, upon a plan quite new and unprecedented. 

 The student who wishes to obtain correct systematic descrip- 



