Vlll 
PREFACE. 
devised, and has met with proportionate 
success. 
By beginning ab initio, by lowering the 
first steps to the temple of knowledge, 
by removing the obstructions which first 
oppose the desire for progress and improve- 
ment, implanted for the wisest purposes 
in every active and ingenuous mind, many 
persons may be tempted to proceed, till, by 
a little perseverance, they become masters 
of the science they otherwise would not 
have ventured to encounter. For such rea- 
sons, the good sense of the well-informed 
has induced them to write elementary books 
on the subject of natural history, adapted 
to the use of those who are less capable 
than themselves of searching for, and col- 
lecting together, all the information which 
