XVI PREFACE. 



natural knowlege, and we shall find it an 

 arduous task only to investigate a single 

 province, so as to speak with precision and 

 certainty ; without which there can be no 

 real improvements in natural history. 



For these reasons, a partial examination 

 of this science is all that a considerate 

 mind will aim at, which may perhaps 

 be most naturally guided to give the pre- 

 ference to the most exalted subject of it. 



Zoology is the noblest part of natural 

 history, as it comprehends all sensitive 

 beings, from reasoning man, through every 

 species of animal life, till it descends to 

 that point where sense is wholly extinct, 

 and vegetation commences : and certainly 

 none will deny, that life, and voluntary 

 motion, are superior to a mere vegetating 

 principle, or the more inactive state of the 

 fossil kingdom. 



Should we follow the train of reflections 

 which naturally arise from the contempla- 

 tion of animals, they would swell this pre- 

 face into a volume : and should we only 

 mention the various uses of British ani- 



