THE 



PREFACE 



LEdsT this Difcourfe fliould be rcjeded meerly 

 for the Title's fake, as if 'twere intended only to 

 divert the Reader, with the Recital of the Fabu- 

 lous and Romantick Stories, which have been re- 

 lated on the Subjeds I have propofed to treat of: I think it 

 neceflary to premife , that as my chief Defign in this Under- 

 taking is the Improvement of the Natural Hifiory o( Animals j 

 fo I have made it my Bufinefs more, to find out the Truth , 

 than to enlarge in the Mythology j to inform the Judgment , 

 than to pleafe the Phancy. And the Orang-Ontang ( whofe 

 Anatomy I here give) being a Creature fo very remarkable, 

 and rare 5 and not only in its External Shape, but much more 

 in the Conformation of a great many of the inward Vifcera, 

 fo much refembling a Man j I thought I could not be too 

 particular, in my Defcription of it j though to fome, who 

 have not a Taft of thefe Matters, I may feem prolix and te- 

 dious. 



To render this Difquifition more ufeful, I have made a 

 Comparati've Survey of this Animal, with a Monkey-, an Ape, 

 and a Man. By viewing the fame Parts of all thefe together, 

 we may the better obferve Nature's Gradation in the Formati- 

 on of Animal Bodies, and the Traniitions made from one to 

 another 5 than which, nothing can more conduce to the 



