GOLDSMITH AS A NATURALIST. 385 



There are very few who can spare time to study Nature 

 deeply (miserabile dictu), and the majority must content them- 

 selves "to view her as she offers, without searching into the 

 recesses in which she ultimately hides " ; they must " take 

 her as she presents herself, and, storing their minds with effects 

 rather than causes, instead of the embarrassment of systems 

 about which few agree," they must be satisfied "with the 

 history of appearances concerning which all mankind have but 

 one opinion." It is for this class of people that 'Animated 

 Nature ' was written. 



