^ -. i-^r. _ 



'^rXT 



* « 



XV ill 



-PREFACE. 



their continued research. It is witli tlio works, a^ 

 it is with the words of God : they are not unfrc- 

 quently so studied, that the knowledge obtained 

 has nothing of the character of true wisdom, and is 

 in some instances, even turned against the most 

 sacred and irnn^utablc truths. Such aberration 

 of cultivated genius, when it occurs, exhibits in 

 the strongest light the imperfection, and insuffi- 

 ciency of unassisted huraiui reason; is a becoming 

 lesson of humiliation to the pride of philosophy, 

 and, could we even confine our views to this 

 perishable world, is well calculated to excite our 

 commiseration. But we nmst not measure the 

 excellence of nature by the effects it has on tlio 

 obdurate heart of man. Creation is always the 



* 



same, not more astonishing as a wliole, from the 

 perfection of its harmony^ and the immensity of 

 its grandeur, tlian in its minutest parts, from their 



variety, beauty, and adaptation. Surely he who 

 is best acquainted with such wonders — he who 

 contemplates in detail the innumerable objects 

 of admiration, wliich present themselves in a 

 blended mass to the multitude — surely he ought 

 to be most deeply and sensibly affected by 

 them; and such, I am confident, is the general 



I--' 



-M 



fact as regards the student of natural history. 

 If, indeed, the apothegm, "the proper study of 



