(iii) 



The Author's PREFACE. 



T O T H E 



SECOND PART. 



AST year, when I publifhed the Firft Part of the Natural 

 Hiftory of Norway *, concerning the climate, the air, and 

 the inanimate and vegetative productions of that country , I 

 purpofed that the Second Part, which treats of Animals, fhould, 

 by all means, go along with it : but unforefeen accidents pre- 

 vented my intention : particularly a dreadful fire, which con- 

 fumed a great part of this city, in Auguft, 1751. My houfe 

 was in imminent danger at the fame time, of being involved in 

 this calamity, with all my manufcripts, 8Cc. but, by the mercy 

 of God, the conflagration did not reach fb far. 



This accident, which might have prevented me from ever 

 compleating this work, has made me lefs fcrupulous in pub- 

 lifhing this and other manufcripts, in collecting and compiling 

 of which I had taken fo much pains ; tho' they might not be 

 fo accurate and correct as I could have wifhed. 



Tis true, the poet fays, 



Nonum premantur in annum. 



But it feems to me more reafonable that every member of the 

 republick of letters fhould contribute, as far as lies in his power, 



* The Author publifhed this work in two volumes Quarto j the firft was printed 

 in 1752/ but the fecond was not committed to the prefs till the year following, for 

 the reafons mentioned in the preface. 



to 



