1797.) 
fore eyes. &c. compelled him to relin- 
quifh the ufe of the microfcope and the 
ftudy of infeéts. This prevention was fo 
extremely mortifying to a man of his 
tafte and aétivity of mind, that he was 
thrown into a deep melancholy, which 
could only be fubdued by the refolution 
infpired by pnilofophy, and the confola- 
tions of religion: thefe gradually roufed 
him from a dejected ftate of mind. 
About the. end of the year 1746, our 
philofopher was chofen member of the 
Literary Inititunion at Bologna, which 
introduced him to a correfpondence with 
the famed Zazott7, wao may be deemed 
the Fontenelle of Italy. 
In the year 1747, ne undertook a very 
dificult work on the leaves of plants ; 
which, of all his publications in natural 
hiftory, bore the ftrongef marks of ori- 
ginality, both with refpeét to the manner 
in which his experiments were made, 
and the difcoveries refulting from them. 
dis extreme attachment to natural hif- 
tory gradually led him to a ftudy of a 
very different nature: {peculative philo- 
fophy now engaged his whole attention. 
The firit fruits of his meditations in this 
_ department, was his Effay on Pfycho- 
logy. In this work, the principal facts 
obfervable in human nature, and the 
confequences refulting from them, are 
ftated in aconcife and con{picuous man- 
ner. He contemplated man, from the 
firft moment of his exiftence, and pur- 
fued the developement of his fenfes and 
faculties, from fimple growth up to in- 
telligence. Ihe work, which was pub- 
lithed without his name, met with great 
oppofition, and was criticifed with feve- 
rity; but the cenfures were dircéted 
more againft his expreffions than his 
principles, nor were they of fufficient 
importance to impede the general accept- 
ance of the publication. 
His analyfis of the mental faculties 
was fimply a developement of the ideas 
contained inthe preceding work. It en- 
gaged, his inceffant attention for the 
fpace of five years; nor was it com- 
pleted before 1759. It is  fomewhat 
fingular, that both he and the <Aéde de 
Cond:llac fnould have iliuftrated their 
principles by the fuppofition of a flatue, 
organized like the human body, which 
they conceived to be gradually infpired 
with a foul, and the progreflive deve- 
lopement of whofe powers thay carefully 
traced. In the year 1760,this work was 
publifhed at Copenbagen, by order and at 
the expence of Frederick V3; and it was 
followed, in 1762, by contemplations on 
Original Anecdotes. —-Life of Bonnet. 
455 
/ \ 
organized bodies. In thisthe author had 
three principal objeéts before him: the 
firft was to give a concife view of every 
thing which appears intereiting in natu- 
ral hiftery, ref{pe¢iing the origin, deve- 
lopement, and re-production of organ- 
ized bodies ; the fecond was to confute 
the two different fyftems founded upon 
the Epigenefis ; and the third was to ex- 
plain the fyftem of Germs, indicate the 
ground upon which it was founded, its 
correfpondence with faéts, and the con- 
fequences refulting from it. This work 
was received with much fatisfaétion by 
_ natural philctophers. The Academy of 
Berlin, which ‘had propofed the fame 
fubjeét, as a prize-queftion for 1761, 
declared that they confidered the treatife 
as the offspring of clofe obfervation and 
profound reafoning ; and that the au- 
thor wouid have had an indubitable right 
to the prize, if he had confined his la- 
bours to the precife ftatement of the 
quettion. It mutt alfo. be recorded, to 
the honour of the great Malz/berdes, 
that he reverfed the imterdiét which 
the public cenfor had laid upon this 
book, under the pretext that it con- 
tained dangerous principles. 
The Coniemplations of Nature appear- 
ed in 1764. In this work, the author firft 
enlarged upon the common conceptions 
entertained concerning the exiflence and, 
perfections of God; and of the order 
and uniformity obfervable’ in the unt- 
verfe. He next defcends to man, exa- 
mines the parts of his compofition, and 
the various capacities with which he is 
endowed. ‘He next proceeds to the 
plants; affembles and defcribes the laws 
of their economy ; and, finally, he ex- 
amines the infects, indicates the prin- 
cipal circumftances in svhich they differ 
from larger animals, and poings out the 
philofephicai inteyences that may legiti- 
mately be deduced from thefe differences ; 
and he concludes with ‘obfervations re- 
{pecting the induftry of ‘infedéis.. This 
work being of a popular nature, the au-’ 
thor fpared no. pains in beftowing upon 
it thofe-ornaments of which it was, fuf- 
ceptible. ‘The principles which he thus 
difcovered and explained, induced him 
to plan a fpftem of moral poilofophy ; 
which, according to his ideas, confifted 
folely in the obferyance of that relation 
in which man 1s placed, refpecting all 
the beingsthat furround him. The firft 
branch would have comprehended vari- 
ous means, which philofophy and the 
medical fcience have difcovered, for the 
prevention of difeafe, the prefervation 
3Na2 and 
