INTRODUCTION. xi 



characters sufficiently uniform, and, at the same time, easily cogniza- 

 ble, can he found for arranging all the groups of individuals into 

 closely connected families. Aware of this, Linnaeus, in his SysteTna 

 Natures, employed one system of organs in his division of its various 

 objects ; while those who attempt to class individual species according 

 to what is called the natural method, take the whole structure of the 

 objects into consideration. The last of these methods, it is evident, 

 could it be carried into effect, would be the most philosophical ; but 

 either system followed exclusively, is found to produce the most 

 heterogeneous combinations. That system, then, is to be considered 

 the best, which, in addition to short and clear diagnostic characters, 

 affords the greatest facility in investigating the productions of Nature. 



The term Nature, it may be remarked, bears various significations. 

 It is sometimes used to signify the properties which a being derives 

 from original conformation, in opposition to those which it has acquir- 

 ed from art ; sometimes to express the whole objects which compose 

 the universe ; at other times, the laws which regulate this universe ; 

 and these laws being, in point of fact, the will of that beneficent and 

 omnipotent Being, who formed all this "gay creation," the word 

 Nature is frequently employed, by a figure of speech, to designate its 

 Great Author. 



The first great division of natural objects, is into organized and 

 INORGANIC bodies; the first, including animals a.nA plants — the second, 

 minerals. These distinctions are easily understood, and have been 

 universally acknowledged to be conformable to nature. Vitality dis- 

 tinguishes the one — the want of vitality characterizes the other. 



The objects of Natural History are further arranged into three 

 great divisions, which have appropriately enough been called king- 

 doms, viz: the Animal — the Vegetable — and the Mineral kingdoms. 

 These divisions are not less proper than convenient ; and although 

 some writers believe it possible to trace a continuous but progressive 

 connection, from the most perfect animal in the scale to the inert and 

 lifeless rock, yet there seems no good reason for supposing that such a 

 chain exists, or, if existing, that all the links shall ever be discovered. 

 The works of the Author of Nature are, indeed, all in consistent 

 harmony with one another, and there is a mutual dependence, advan- 

 tageous to all, among the various classes of organized beings : but 

 between the lowest form of vegetable or animal life, and the most 

 symmetrically disposed crystal in the mineral kingdom — between a 

 living body and inert matter — there is an immeasurable distance; and 



