PREFACE. 



Perhaps there is no subject on which the mind of 

 man can ruminate, that is better calculated to afford 

 substantial intellectual pleasure and satisfaction, than 

 the study of nature ; especially if we view it from the 

 consideration, that as man is subservient to God, so 

 are all instinctive beings, as well as all the productions 

 of the earth, subservient to, and designed for, the use 

 of man. 



Man being thus dignified-, and endowed with un- 

 derstanding, reason, and moral ; freedom, is exalted far 

 above all other creatures of the earth. How import- 

 ant, then, that he should maintain his station in 

 society as becomes a rational and intelligent being, 

 instead of sinking himself, as too many do, below the 

 meanest of the mean, by dissipation and vice. 



It is a fact which cannot be controverted, that the 

 want of mental and manual employment, often proves 

 an incentive to vice, which infallibly will produce 



