for we have difcovered only about 1200 native 
plants, and about 1400 fpecies of animals. We 
of the human race, who were created to praife 
and adore our Creator, unlefs we choofe to be 
mere idle fpeXators, fhould and in duty ought 
to be affected with nothing fo much as the pious 
confideration of this glorious palace. Moft cer- 
tainly if we were to improve and polifh our 
minds by the knowledge of thefe things j we 
fhould befides the great ufe which would ac- 
crue to our ceconomy, difcover the more ex- 
cellent oeconomy of nature, and more ftrongly 
admire it when difcovered. 
Omnium elementorum alterni recurfi funt, 
Quicquid alteri perit in alterum tranfit. 
Senec. Nat III. io* 
H E foregoing piece, though on a fub- 
JL jeft often treated by learned and ingeni- 
ous men, feems to me to contain many things 
new and curious, and to give a more compre- 
henfive and diftinX view, as it were in a map, 
of the feveral parts of nature, their connexions 
and dependencies, than is any where elfe to be 
found. But exclufive of this or any other com- 
parative merit, it certainly conveys an ufefull 
3 
leffon, 
