INTRODUCTION. xi 
° 
characters sufficiently uniform, and, at the same time, easily cogniza- 
ble, can be found for arranging all the groups of individuals into 
closely connected families. Aware of this, Linneus, in his Systema 
Nature, 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 te 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 and 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 Animat—the VeceTasBLe —and the Minerat kingdoms. 
These divisions are not less proper than convenient; and althoug’a 
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 
