PREFACE. 
The activity of the infant mind requires 
constant employment. It therefore be- 
comes an important duty, in those who 
have the care of children, to provide 
a continual supply of materials ; and 
such as may, at once, gratify and sti- 
mulate that spirit of inquiry, which may 
be guided without difficulty, but which 
can never be repressed without danger. 
Natural History seems to be well 
suited to this purpose. It is easily kept 
down to the capacity of any age; and 
it presents a number of intelligible and 
striking facts, which amuse the senses, 
without fatiguing the mind, and which 
lead to observation, industry, and ar- 
