OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 23 



different genera a , but also by noticing the different di- 

 rection of the two anterior from the four posterior legs 

 of insects ; for, as he speaks of them as going upon four 

 legs b , it is evident that he considered the two anterior 

 as arms. Solomon, the wisest of mankind, made Na- 

 tural History a peculiar object of study, and left treatises 

 behind him upon its various branches, in which creeping 

 things or insects were not overlooked c ; and a wiser than 

 Solomon directs our attention to natural productions, 

 when he bids us consider the lilies of the field d , teaching 

 us that they are more worthy of our notice than the 

 most glorious works of man : he also not obscurely inti- 

 mates that insects are symbolical beings, when he speaks 

 of scorpions as synonymous with evil spirits e ; thus giv- 

 ing into our hands a clue for a more profitable mode of 

 studying them, as furnishing moral and spiritual instruc- 

 tion. 



If to these scriptural authorities we add those of un- 

 inspired writers, ancient and modern, the names of many 

 worthies, celebrated both for wisdom and virtue, may be 

 produced. Aristotle among the Greeks, and Pliny the 

 elder among the Romans, may be denominated the fa- 

 thers of Natural History, as well as the greatest philo- 

 sophers of their day; yet both these made insects a prin- 

 cipal object of their attention : and in more recent times, 

 if we look abroad, what names greater than those of 

 Redi, Malpighi, Vallisnieri, Swammerdam, Leeuwen- 

 hoek, Reaumur, Linne, De Geer, Bonnet, and the 

 Hubers? and at home, what philosophers have done 



a Levit. xi. 21, 22. Liechtenstein in Linn. Trans, iv. 51, 52. 

 *» Levit. xi. 20. conf. Bochart, Hierozoic. ii. 1. 4. c. 9. 497-8. 

 « 1 Kings iv. 33. d Luke xiL 27. e Ibid. s. 19, 20, 



