9 



aim of every one to simplify his labour; and the want 

 of a plaii is too frequently the complaint of those who 

 either through negligence or inattention, suffer oppor- 

 tunities of being useful to escapa them unimproved ; to 

 remedy this neglect, and to supply the want above al- 

 luded to, we have annexed at the close of the different 

 divisions, a sketch of a diary or calender, somewhat on 

 the plan of that published many years ago by the Honorable 

 Daines Barrington. 



The Author takes this opportunity of acknowledging 

 the assistance he has derived from various valuable pub- 

 lications, particularly from the Philosophical and the 

 transactions of the Royal and Linnean Societies, works which 

 contain papers cf the highest importance and v/hich will 

 be read with interest in succeeding ages; yet from the 

 voluminous and expensive forms of these works, they must 

 of course be read by comparatively few, and the knowledge 

 they contain can hardly extend beyond the sphere iu which 

 it was at first disseminated. 



That it is not possible ever to form a complete history 

 of all natural subjectSj is evident from their immense 

 variety, and from tlie intimate coiiiiexion subsisting 

 between each ; so that all Vy e can expect from the ob- 

 servation of discerning men, whose attention may be 

 directed to the same objects, is an increase of our present 

 stock of knowledge, and from the gleanings of this 

 fjeneral stock, somelhing in the nature of a complete 

 .history may be formed. The parts forming this great 

 Tfhole, are so complex, tlicir uses so varied, and their 



