[ 5t ] 



and perfcâ accounts as one could wifb^ I think 

 no man fliould be difcouraged from publiftiing 

 accounts of natural things, becaufe he cannot 

 give fo full an account of them as he defireth ; 

 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 v^e have yet known but obfcurely, 

 which may give a later fearcher opportunity to 

 difcover things more perfeélly ; for it is altoge- 

 ther impoflible in many cafes, at firft, to come 

 to the knowledge of thmgs in all their particular 

 circuiBftances. It is the work of fome only to 

 kint to us what there is in nature, barely by 

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

 and give fome tolerable account of them, which 

 may enable others, who come after, to attain a 

 more perfeél 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 produdions we often meet 

 with rare things brought from diftant parts of 

 the world, which have lain in obfcurity, un- 

 regarded by any knowing perfon, till ijc is for- 



E 2 gotten 



