xviii PItEFACE. 



an idea, which, whether it be correct or not is an- 

 other question, but which must certainly have been 

 coexistent with the first use of human reason. 



But it is said that every naturalist who has hi- 

 therto proposed a natural system, has thereby only 

 deceived himself and others with an illusive struc- 

 ture, which, like the castle in a fairy tale, falls to 

 pieces on being tried by the talisman of truth. The 

 fact is perhaps indisputable; — but what after all 

 does it prove? not certainly that the existence of the 

 natural system is chimerical, or that the discovery 

 of it is impracticable. Yet, according to Linnaeus, 

 the false naturalist is he who flatters himself with 

 the idea of having attained the natural method, 

 <£ qui methodum naturalem sibi n&tam crepat" 

 There can indeed be no doubt that the natural me- 

 thod is often in the mouths of the very persons who 

 have the least notion of what it means. This, how- 

 ever, is not exactly the question at issue. We have 

 in truth to learn, whether the investigation of the 

 order of nature ought altogether to be abandoned ; 

 for it is idle to assert that any man in his senses 

 will waste his time in seeking that which, if the 

 opinion of Linnaeus be adopted, he must be con- 

 vinced that it is ridiculous in him to fancy that he 

 can ever find. Before, therefore, we can admit the 

 above definition to be correct, it is surely requisite 

 for its defenders to prove, either the truth of the 



