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PREFACE. 
IT is the peculiar glory of the prefent age, that Science has not only flou- 
riflied, but been purfued to her lafl: retreat. The moft unpropitious 
climes have been explored 5 and neither the polar frofts, nor the tropic funs, 
have been able to impede the daring fpirit of difcovery. New countries, re- 
plete with objeds before unknown, have been added to the terraqueous 
globe; and, as thefe refearches have been fyftematically purfued by men 
eminent in every branch of literature, the Aftronomer, the Geographer, and 
the Naturalift, have augmented the bounds of their refpedive fciences. 
The infinite variety of the productions of Nature thus prefented to our 
view, mufl; alone excite aftonifhment ; but when we confider the art, me- 
chanifm, and even the beautiful irregularity, perceptible in all her operations, 
we are overwhelmed with admiration ! In vain do we endeavour to reduce 
the various objeCls to fyftematical order ; the idea may pleafe, but it is only 
an agreeable illufion: new difcoveries occafion new difficulties in our pro- 
grefs ; and the mofl: afpiring mind mufl: at lafl: acquiefce in acknowledging, 
that the Creating Energy, who fpoke all things into life, has endued his 
innumerous hofts af creatures with powers adapted to their refpe6tive def- 
tinations- — relative, yet diffimilar; harmonious, yet contradidlory to each 
other. 
In attempting to methodize, and reduce to clafTes, creatures oppofite in 
their propenfities, difpofitions, and conformations, though accidentally cor- 
jefponding in fome particular inftances, the lights prefented to the eyes of 
man ferve only to bewilder and confound him. The analogy between fome 
creatures is evident, and the genus diftind : this encourages him to proceed 
in the inveftigation of his favourite hypothecs; an infuperable chafm inter- 
rupts his progrefs, and wild conjedure ufurps the place of rational demon- 
ftration. 
Indeed, the ineffeaual attempts of the profoundeft fcholars, and the moft 
indefatigable enquirers, might have convinced fucceeding Naturalifts, that 
their abilities were not to be proved on the fcale of fyftematic arrangement, 
but refled rather on the accuracy of their defcriptions, and the extent of 
their obfervations. 
Even the intelligent and the penetrating Linnaeus, to whom the world is 
under the higheft obligations, and whofe memory will ever be revered while 
tafle and fcience remain, found it impoflible to obviate all the difficulties of 
B a generic 
