ON THE STUDY OF NATtJRE* IQ 



TCicnt, instead of industriously seeking out imperfec- 

 tions, to discover that these lie alone in our own 

 erroneous powers of discrimination. It would be 

 well, if, instead of looking to self-interest only, in 

 the works of the Creation, we could, according to 

 the remark of a late writer, consider these things in 

 the same light as when different seamen are wa.ting 

 at one port for fair winds, each to the country to 

 which he is bound ; where we plainly see it in)possi- 

 ble that all should be satisfied. 



In Lapland, and some others of the Northern re- 

 gions, Providence has kindly contrived that what 

 would seem an evil, and is in some respects an incon- 

 venience to the inhabitants, should become a means 

 of their preservation. They are pestered with mul- 

 titudes of Gnats which teaze tliem so much by their 

 stings, that to defend themselves they have recourse 

 to smearing their faces, and keeping constantly a 

 thick smoke in their cottages. These insects de- 

 posit their eggs in the water, and thus bring into the 

 country immense numbers of aquatic birds, which 

 feed on them; and which constitute the principal 

 support of the inhabitants ; and thus are these people 

 unhappy in the very circumstances that procures 

 them life. If it be asked, why it is necessary they 

 should be unhappy in order to live ? we answer, that 

 having developed one step, we find ourselves in- 

 volved as deeply in obscurity, as those v^hose short- 

 sightedness has not penetrated thus far ; but we are 

 taught by this not to rest too securely on our own 

 judgments (which are frequently built without a pro- 

 per basis), when we arc about to censure the per- 



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