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gotten from whence they were produced : when 

 fuch things are difcovered, I think it better to 

 preferve figures and defcriptions of them, than to 

 let them fink in oblivion, to which they were 

 haftening -, becaufe, when we certainly know 

 that thefe things fi^ibfift in nature, the curiofity 

 of fome will be incited to inquire after them, in 

 order to make more full and perfed difcoveries. 

 Sir Francis Bacon has left us fomething in his 

 Advancement of Learning, pointing out the 

 means of improving fcience (which is, I think, 

 fuitable to our prefent argument) in the follow- 

 ing lines : " .Thofe things are to be held pof- 

 " fible, which may be done by fome perfon, 



though not by every one ; and which may be 

 " done by many, though not by any one ; and 



and which may be done in fuccefiion of ages, 

 " though not within the hour-glafs of one man's 



life -, and which may be done by public de- 

 " fignation, though not by private endeavodr.'* 



One is fomewhat conftrained in Natural Hi- 

 ftory, having only one figure of each fpecies, 

 to keep to fuch attitudes in figures as will fliew 

 all their principal parts and colours treated of j 



other- 



