INTRODUCTION. 



Natural History, or the study of the Mundane 

 Creation, may be primarily divided into two grand 

 empires, whose territories are distinct, and whose 

 boundaries are well defined. The one is the Or- 

 ganic, or that of Animated Nature ; the other is the 

 Inorganic, or Inanimate. The first of these, which 

 comprises within its realms everything possessed 

 of life on our planet, is sub-divided into two king- 

 doms, viz., the Animal or Zoological, and the Vege- 

 table or Phytological. The domains of Inorganic 

 Nature again comprehend Meteorology, or the 

 science of atmospheric phenomena, and Geology, or 

 the history of the composition of our globe, which 

 includes Physical -Geography, or the superficial 

 structure of the earth, and Mineralogy, or a know- 

 ledge of the component parts of rocks. A con- 

 necting link between these two great divisions is 

 supplied by Palaeontology, or the study of Fossil Re- 



