rUEFACE TO THE ORIGINAL ED1TI6n. 



Natural History, considered in its utmost extent, comprehends 

 two objects. First, that of discovering, ascertaining, and nam- 

 ing, all the various productions of Nature. Secondly, that of de- 

 scribing the properties, manners, and relations, which they bear 

 to us, and to each other. The first, which is tlie most difficult 

 part of this science, is systematical, dry, mechanical, and incom- 

 plete. The second is more amusing, exhibits new pictures to the 

 imagination, and improves our relish for existence, by widening 

 the prospect of nature around us. 



iioth, however, are necessary to those who would understand 

 this pleasing science in its utmost extent. The first care of every 

 inquirer, no doubt, should be, to see, to visit, and examine, every 

 object, before he pretends to inspect its habitudes or its history. 

 From seeing and observing the thing itself, be is most naturally 

 led to speculate upon its uses, its delights, or its inconveniences. 



Numberless obstructions, however, are found in this part of his 

 pursuit that frustrate his diligence and retard his curiosity. The 

 objects in nature are so many, and even those of the same kind 

 are exhibited in such a variety of forms, that the inquirer finds 

 himself lost in the exuberance before him, and, like a man who 

 attempts to count the stars, unassisted by art, his powers are all 

 distracted in barren superfluity. 



To remedy this embarrassment, artificial systems have been de- 

 vised, which, grouping into masses those parts of nature uioie 

 nearly resembling each other, refer the inquirer for the name of 

 the single object he desires to know, to some one of those general 

 distributions, where it is to be found by farther examination. 



If, for instance, a man should, in his walks, meet with an ani- 

 mal, the name, and consequently the history, of which he desires 

 to know, he is taught by systematic writers of natural history to 

 examine its most obvious qualities, whether a quadruped, a bird, 

 a fish, or an insect. Having determined 't, for explanation' sake, 

 to be an insect, he examines whether it has wings; if he finds i1 

 possessed of these, he is taught to examine whether it has two ot 



