Since the microfcope has been brought to fuch a degree of per- 

 fe&ion, that not only the minuteft animals, but even thofe 

 which before entirely efcaped our fight, are now difcovered, and 

 become the fubjecl: of our examination ; what a new fcene of 

 things is prefented to our view, and how vaft the extent of 

 Nature's empire * ! Great difcoveries in this way might be 

 made in Norway. If there was but a SwammerDam or a 

 Reaumur amongft us, provided with the beft glaffes, and' 

 fufficient time and opportunity. 



If we turn our eyes to the other extreme, how amazingly large' 

 are fome of the animal fpecies ! The largeft of thefe are in a man- 

 ner peculiar to the Northern Ocean, and the contents of the 

 eighth chapter are fo much the more remarkable, as the world 

 has flood fo long, that the moft formidable and bulky of its inha- 

 bitants have been hardly known to any of the human race, ex- 

 cepting a few Norvegian fifhermen # . 



However^ thofe creatures are very well known to them \ and 

 if the many unqueftionable witnefles, whom I have ftri&ly ex- 

 amined with regard to this affair, are not to be credited, then 

 we muft fet afide almoft all human teftimony. 

 -< If my account of thefe extraordinary Sea-animals mould not 

 difpleafe the philofophers of the prefent age, I willingly fubmit 

 my thoughts, as far as they are only my own, to their judge- 

 ment ; whofe corre&ions and obfervations tending to the amend- 

 ment of this work by a new edition, or by tranflations into 

 other languages, will be always agreeable to me, and the favour 

 will be received with gratitude. 



* What can we think of the Animalcule, which De Lille, in the Hiftoire de 

 I'Academie Royale, ad Ann. 171 1, p. 18, fays he faw through a microfcope, 

 which, in the fpace of a fecond of time, or one pulfation of the artery, ad- 

 vanced forwards three inches, taking 540 fteps. But when we fuppofe that 

 every living creature, the leaft as well as the greateft, is a hydraulic and pneu- 

 matic machine, compofed of various parts, for various purpofes, it raifes our ad^ 

 miration of the works of the all-wife Creator dill higher. 



? Veniet tempus, quo ipfa quae nunc latent, dies extrahet, & longioris am dil£ 

 gentia. Ad inquifitionem tantorum astas non una fufficit. Veniet tempus, quo 

 pofteri noftri tarn aperta nos nefcivifTe mirabuntur. Seneca, 



Part II. b The 





