Lat hk OD UC TI 0 N. 
OLE Teer 
een, Re Cen Ee Cr: We Or Re LD. 
KNOWLEGE of the geography, climate, and foil, and a general 
view of the productions of the countries, whofe Zoologic Hiftory is to 
be treated of, are points fo neceflary, that no apology need be made for 
introducing them into a prefatory difcourfe. 
It is worthy human curiofity to trace the gradual increafe of the animal world, 
from the fcanty pittance given to the rocks of Spitzbergen, to the {warms of beings 
which enliven the vegetating plains of Senegal: to point out the caufes of the local 
niggardnefs of certain places, and the prodigious plenty in others. The Botanift 
fhould attend the fancied voyage I am about to take, to explain the feanty 
herbage of the 4réfic regions ;. or, fhould I at any time hereafter defcend into the 
lower latitudes, to inveftigate the luxuriancy of plants in the warmer climates. 
The Foffilift fhould join company, and point the variations of primaval crea- 
tion, from the folid rock of Spitzbergen through all the degrees of terreftrial matter : 
the fteps it makes to perfeGtion, from the vileft earth to the precious diamond of 
Golconda. ‘The changes in the face of the globe fhould be attended to ; the de- 
ftruétions by vulcanoes ; the ravages of the fea on fome coafts, and the recom- 
pence it may have made to others, by the’retreat of its waters. 
The purfuit of thefe enquiries will alfo have a farther and mote important 
objet. Hiftory fhould be called in, and a brief account given of the population 
of the more remote countries—the motives which induced mankind to feck re- 
treats in climates feeminyly deftitute of incitements to migration. Particular 
attention fhould be paid to the means of peopling the new world, and of ftocking 
it with animals, to contribute to the fupport of mankind, after the frft coloniza- 
tion—the increafe of thofe animals, and their ceflation, and giving place in a 
certain latitude to genera entirely different. 
a Here. 
