IN NATURAL HISTORY. 337 



the observation of nature, and of the loss which 

 we now sustain from its being so neglected and 

 that not at one remote point merely, but at all 

 points. We have, for instance, the history of the 

 inhabitants of London, the more remarkable build- 

 ings, and even the very streets, but where is the 

 history of the Thames and its valley ? and yet 

 both may, indeed must, have undergone many 

 changes since the Roman legions first appeared on 

 the banks of the river. So also every river and 

 river's valley must have changed; and those 

 changes must have had an influence on the wea- 

 ther, the climate, the seasons, the plants, the ani- 

 mals and the whole natural history of the country, 

 in so far as that can be affected by the changes of 

 time, or those of any thing that time changes. 

 But for the want of observation and record, the 

 whole of that is lost. We are consequently igno- 

 rant of the great natural monuments which are in 

 progress in our own country ; and, as these must 

 have an effect upon every operation of art, which 

 is in any way connected with plants or animals, 

 or to which the state of the atmosphere has any 

 relation, we must be, in so far, at the mercy of 

 guesses in the conducting of these. That has passed 

 and we cannot help it ; but it ought to be a warn- 

 ing to us, and induce us to examine the connexion 

 and watch the succession of every thing we see. 



The vegetable tribes are perhaps the best sub- 

 jects of observation for those who make an amuse- 

 ment rather than a business of observing. The 

 weather is a wayward thing, and we want many 

 of the elements which would be necessary to form 

 the little that we do know about it into a science. 

 Animals, too, in their wild or natural state, the 

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