NATURAL HISTORY 



O F 



FISHES. 



CHAPTER I. OF FISHES IN GENERAI.. 



Sect. I. — Hyiory of Ichthyology* 



i N" the early periods of focietj, the neceffities and wants 

 of men, rather than their curiofity, prompt them to 

 pay attention to the different objects, which the muni- 

 ficent Author of nature has placed around them : And, 

 though fiflies conflitute a greater part of the fubliilence of 

 men, in their rude and favage flate, than perhaps in any 

 future flage of their political exigence, yet their ac- 

 quaintance with this part of the animal kingdom, in the 

 earlier ages of fociety, is by no means exteafive. A 

 few fpecies that are mod common, or moll eaiily taken 

 i^ the neareft river or lake, are all that the neceffity of 

 the favage requires ; and, as in him, curiofity has not 

 yet begun to be a fleady principle of action, it feldom 

 leads him to examine more. 



Vol. ITT. A Even 



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