bles us to read, in their imperfect and mutilated remains, 

 the history of the former inhabitants of this globe. It 

 points out to us the order followed in the successive crea- 

 tion of animals, as discovered by their fossil remains, by their 

 degree of organization, and by their relations to the strata of 

 the earth, and unfolds the nature of those remarkable re- 

 volutions which have repeatedly taken place in the Animal 

 Kingdom, in consequence of sudden or gradual changes in 

 the condition of the surface of this globe. 



The study of these various objects forms a vast and 

 interesting department of knowledge, which is intimately 

 connected with the most common wants and enjoyments of 

 man, and forms a subject of contemplation peculiarly cal- 

 culated to gratify, improve, and elevate the human mind ; 

 to extend its acquaintance with the sources of happiness 

 immediately around us ; to store it with useful and prac- 

 tical knowledge; to enlarge our views of the wonderful 

 harmony which everywhere pervades the economy of the 

 universe ; to exalt our conceptions of the infinite wisdom, 

 power, and goodness of the great Author of Nature, as 

 displayed in his minutest works ; and thus to lay the most 

 rational and lasting foundations of piety and virtue, and 

 strengthen the best principles of morality and religion. 



The Animal Kingdom, which forms the exclusive sub- 

 ject of our study in this place, is by far the greatest of 

 the three kingdoms of" natural bodies, in regard to the num- 

 ber of distinct species which it comprehends; and these 

 possess a more complicated and perfect mechanism, exhibit 

 a more interesting series of phenomena, and have a closer 

 relation to the necessities and enjoyments of man, than mi- 

 nerals or plants. Man himself, and all the beings that, 

 like him, enjoy life, motion and feeling, are comprehended 

 in this great division of natural bodies. 



More than a thousand species of Quadrupeds have been 

 described in Zoological works, five thousand species of 

 Birds, and as many species of Fishes, are now known to 

 naturalists. The number and variety of Reptiles is im- 



