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PREFACE. 



Natural History, as a subject of study in our common 

 schools and academies, lias not hitherto, it is believed, been 

 duly appreciated, nor received that attention which its rel- 

 ative importance, compared with other studies, demands. 



This is a utilitarian age ; and the ingenious calculations of 

 profit and loss, which characterize the pursuits of men in 

 life, have extended their baleful influence to the schoolroom, 

 and shut out from thence several of those themes of study 

 and investigation, from which many of our purest and most 

 rational pleasures are derived. 



The effect of this spirit has been, as every intelligent 

 person must be aware, to disparage those studies which do 

 not have a direct and palpable connection with the business 

 pursuits of the age. While every one will acknowledge, 

 that there are certain elementary branches, which should 

 always be placed first on the programme of instruction, be- 

 cause a familiarity with them is demanded in the most ordi- 

 nary transactions of business ; it should nevertheless be 

 remembered, that the world around us is teeming with ob- 

 jects of admiration and delight, well fitted for the contem- 

 plation of the expanding mind, and presenting to it new 

 avenues of happiness and enjoyment. 



Natural History embraces the great field of nature — both 

 animate and inanimate. It relates to the universe around 

 us, — to the earth on which we tread, to the air we breathe, 

 and to the million phases of organic life in ah, earth, and 

 sea, from the simple Infusoria, which give life and ani- 

 mation to the stagnant pool, to the ponderous Elephant and 

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