[ 43 J 



genus with the thing fo briefly defcribed, 

 which makes the dcfcription uncertain, or rather 

 no natural defcription at all. If naturalifts 

 would obiei-ve this medium, and ftudy a plain 

 comprehenfive language, and well expreiTmg the 

 things treated of, they might gradually, by 

 making the ftudy both ufeful and pleafant, 

 bring many into the love of natural hiftory who 

 now defpife it. 



I know there are fome gentlemen that put the 

 terms of mean and little upon fuch fciences or 

 ftudies that they themfelves have no tafte for ; 

 and others would make them ufelefs by calling 

 them mere fpeculations. Natural hiftory has 

 been particularly alperfed and treated in this 

 manner by the enemies to all real knowledge, their 

 ideas, or conceptions, reaching only to fuch objeds 

 and purfuits as produce immediate profit or fen- 

 fual pieafure : but if thefe gentlemen will look 

 back a little, they will find that men as great, as 

 wife, and magnanimous, at leaft, as themfelves, 

 in all ages, have bufied themfelves in the difco- 

 yeries and knowledge of nature. King Solomon 

 is a great example in this matter, who was 

 himfelf a natural historian, and perhaps had pe- 

 netrated 



