xv iii PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF THE 



vated to some extent by the sages of India, of 

 Egypt, of Chaldea, and other Eastern nations, 

 is much more than probable. In the climes 

 and ages to which we allude, the priests were 

 the sole depositaries of all knowledge. The first 

 naturalists, and the first physicians, were the 

 interpreters of the Divine will, the prophets to 

 whom futurity was unveiled, and the magicians 

 to whom all nature was obedient. No certain 

 testimony can be collected from those ages of 

 darkness, in which the sciences descended, 

 from heaven at the command of priests, and 

 were preserved on earth as their exclusive pa- 

 trimony. Through the fleeting medium of oral 

 tradition, or the mystic garb of symbolical 

 writing, little may be traced with accuracy 

 respecting the progress of science. In India, 

 Egypt, and the East, it flourished only in the 

 shade of temples, and the secrecy of solitudes. 

 Philosophy formed but a part of theology, and 

 the phenomena of nature proved, but too fre- 

 quently, powerful engines in the hands of the 

 artful, over the ignorant and the superstitious, 

 and, perhaps, occasionally useful instruments 

 for the maintenance of civil order : such is 

 universally the case in the infancy of society. 



We may fairly suppose that the study of 

 animals was not altogether neglected by such 



