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CHAPTER VI. 



aENEEAL PEINCIPLES OF SCIENTIFIC ABE.AJS'GEMENT. 



The following rapid observations are addressed to those 

 whom it is the desire that this series of volumes may in- 

 duce to take up the study of Nature in a methodical 

 manner. With this view, the merest summary of the 

 principles upon which scientific arrangement is hased, is 

 here exhibited. The study requires method as a lode- 

 star to guide through its intricacies, but it is one which, 

 pursued simply as a recreation, yields both much amuse- 

 ment and gratifying instruction. It shows us that when 

 we unclasp the book of nature, and wherever we may 

 turn its leaves, every word, the syllables of which we 

 strive to spell, is pregnant with the fniitfulness of won- 

 derful wisdom, whose profound expression the human 

 intellect is too limited thoroughly to comprehend. 



Is there an arrangement that human skill could 

 mend? Is there an organization that man can fully 

 solve, or a combination that his mind can wholly com- 

 pass? Do we not behold limitless perfection every- 

 where, but aU so deeply mysterious. So exquisite are 

 the feelings which the contemplation commands, that 

 they imbue us deeply with the sense of the high privilege 

 conferred upon the intellect by its being permitted to 

 embrace a study, which, even pursued merely as a re- 



