PREFACE. 
46 Were a savage of America possessed of 
a watch, and had by frequent observations 
on the movements attained to the thorough 
© 
knowledge of the action of the wheels, the 
disposition and correspondence of the se- 
veral parts of it, without knowing the di- 
vision of time, or any use of his watch, he 
would in reality be more ignorant with re- 
gard to all the intents and purposes of this 
machine, than a European who knows how 
to inform himself by it of the time and hour 
of the day, without having made any ob- 
servations on its mechanism and structure. 
Just so it is with him who has spent his life 
in the study of natural history, and taken 
no pains to acquaint himself with the ends 
a 2 
