REPTILES. 



VV E are now to consider the class of Rep- 

 tiles, which are, for the most part, objects of 

 detestation ; but however the opinion of the 

 world may be, if a writer undertakes a general 

 history of animals, he must include them : they 

 form at lest one link in the chain of beings, and 

 may therefore be viewed with a degree of plea- 

 sure by a philosophic eye. 



Notwithstanding the prejudice against this 

 class is almost universal, is it founded on rea- 

 son? In some it may be owned that the out- 

 ward form is disagreeable, while the noxious 

 qualities of others are justly productive of ter- 

 ror : but are we on that account to reject them? 

 The more fatal they are, the more deeply we 

 should inquire into their effects, that we may 

 be capable of relieving those who are sufferers, 

 and secure others from the same misfortune. 



