4 I 



HUTTONIAN THEORY. 487 



I 



ind fcarcely any part of the mineral kingdom had 

 been accurately furveyed ; and, with fuch ma- 

 terials as this (late of things afforded, it is not 

 wonderful if fome parts of the edifice he,erc6led 

 have not proved fo folid and durable as the reflc 

 Had he appeared fomewhat later ; had he been 

 farther removed from the time when reafonings 

 a priori ufurped the place of indudlion ; and had 

 he been as willing to corred the errors into 

 which he had been betrayed by imperfed in- 

 formation, as he was ingenious in defending 

 them, his work would probably have reached as 

 great perfedion, as it is given for any thing 

 without the fphere of the accurate fciences ta 

 attain. If he had examined the natural hiftory 

 • *of the earth more with his own eyes, and been as 



careful to delineate it with fidelity as force; if he 

 had liftened with greater care to the philofo- 

 phers around him ; had he attended to the de- 

 monftrations of Newton more, and defpifed thei 



4 



arrangements of Linn^us lefs ; he would have 

 produced a work, as fingular for its truth as foir 

 its beauty, and would have gone near to merit 

 the eulogy pronounced by the enthuliafm of his 

 countrymert, Majestati Natur-s: ?ar inge- 



NIUM. 



\ 



H h 4 Not 



jii. 



