t 51 ] 



ând perfe6l accounts as one conld wifli, I think 

 ho man fliould be difcouraged from publifhing 

 accounts of natural things, becaufe he cannot 

 give fo full an account of them as he defireth j 

 for it is enough in a faithful author, if he can 

 give but a tolerable account of things which 

 we have not heard of before, or a clearer hiftory 

 of things we have yet known but obfcurely, 

 which may give a later fearcher opportunity to 

 difcover things more perfeélly ; for it is altoge- 

 ther impoffible in many cafes, at firft, to come 

 to the knowledge of things in all their particular 

 circumftances. It is the work of fome only to 

 hint to us what there is in nature^ barely by 

 names ; and of others, to fearch a little farther^ 

 iand give fome tolerable account of them, which 

 may enable others, who come after, to attain a 

 more perfed knowledge of things, who, per- 

 haps, would never have bufied themfelves 

 about them, had they not . received their firft 

 hints from authors far more dark than them- 

 felves. In natural produélions we often meet 

 with rare things brought from diftant parts of 

 the world, v/hich have lain in obfcurity, un« 

 regarded by any knowing perfon, till it is for- 

 E 2 gotten 



