GENERAL VIEW OP NATURE. <335 



than that of Botany ; the improvements of future years, we are not 

 able to anticipate; but it is probable that as discoveries and im- 

 provements are made, they will cluster around the principles already 

 established ; each taking its proper place in the various departments 

 now arranged for the reception of scientific truths. 



The spirit of our government is highly favourable to the promo- 

 tion and dissemination of knowledge ; and although Europe may 

 boast of many stars which irradiate her firmament of letters, shining 

 with brilliant lustre amidst the surrounding darkness of ignorance, 

 may we not justly feel a national pride in that more general diffw- 

 sion of intellectual light^ which is radiating from every part, and to 

 every part of the American republic ! 



LEG T URE XLVI. 



GENERAL VIEW OF NATURE — ORGANIZED AND INORGANIZED BODIES — CLASSIFI- 

 CATION OF ANIMALS. 



Having considered the vegetable kingdom under its various as- 

 pects, it may be proper, before closing our course of botanical study, 

 to take a general view of that external world of matter, of which 

 the part we have examined, extended and diversified as it is, con- 

 stitutes but a veiy small portion. The science you have been inves- 

 tigating, with some others, constitutes a general branch of knowl- 

 edge termed Natural science. The study of nature presents, in a 

 lively and forcible manner, the power and wisdom of the Creator ; 

 and "offers to the enlightened mind, a never-failing source of the most 

 pure and refined enjoyment. Those who know nothing of this source 

 of happiness, cannot appreciate its value ; they may inquire the use 

 of studying into the nature of objects, without any reference to the 

 enjoyment of the senses, to personal gain or honour. A celebrated 

 naturalist* observes : " The rich and the great imagine, that every 

 one is miserable, and out of the world, who does not live as they 

 do ; but they are the persons who, hving far from nature and from 

 God, five out of the world. Misled by the prejudices of a faulty 

 education, I have pursued a vain felicity amid the false glories of 

 arms, the favour of the great, and sometimes in frivolous and 

 dangerous pleasures. I have never been happy but when I trusted 

 in God : opposed to Thee, the Author of all things, power is weak- 

 ness ! supported by Thee, weakness becomes strength! When the 

 rude northern blasts have ravaged the earth. Thou callest forth the 

 feeblest of winds; at the sound of Thy voice, the zephyr breathes, 

 the verdure revives, the gentle cowslip and the humble violet cover 

 the bosoni of the bleak earth with a mantle of gold and purple." 



To the pious reflections of this French writer, we will add the 

 following quotation from an Enghsh author,t the energies of whose 

 rich and cultivated intellect were devoted to the cause of religion, 

 who viewed nature as a philosopher, but what is far better, as a 

 Christian. Happy indeed, are those in whom philosophy and Chris- 

 tianity are blended, and de ightful is the intercourse, even in this 

 world, between minds thus_enhghtened and purified! 



* St. Pierre. 



t Rev. Legh Richmond. 



Science of Botany settled— Difference between the state of science in Europe and 

 America— Natural science— Reflections on the study of Natural science. 



