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some examples might be adduced, tea 

 years ago, would not be tolerated at the 

 present daj. In Geology ample materials 

 are daily accumulating for a complete his- 

 tory of our different formations, and the 

 efforts of our geologists are unwearied in 

 adding to the stock of our positive know- 

 ledge on this subject. Unbiassed by the 

 theories of European naturalists, they at- 

 tach themselves exclusively to the study of 

 the nature, arrangement, and connection of 

 the different strata without attempting to 

 seek for proofs of their identity with simi- 

 lar formations in Europe. The Botany of 

 our country has been carefully studied, and 

 although the attempts hitherto made to in- 

 troduce the natural orders in preference to 

 the Linnean arrangement, have failed of 

 success, yet there is every reason to anti- 

 cipate that ere long our botanists will gene- 

 rally adopt this only philosophical mode of 

 studying the vegetable kingdom. In Zoology, 

 from the peculiarity of our situation, natural- 

 ists have been more occupied in discovering 

 and describing new species, than in inves- 

 tigating the natural affinities and relations 

 of beings, the chief end of all zoological 



