and should never be deficient in it in his own publications. This duty has not been neglected in the ensuing pages. In these it has been a constant endeavour to collect authenticated facts-to state them fairly to reason correctly about them-to express the natural feelings which have arisen as they were contemplated-and to make the general composition perspicuous, readable, and, if possible, not uninteresting. The first wish was to be serviceable to those in whose welfare the Author is more immediately concerned. The larger hope has been added to this, that what should eventually be useful to them, might not be unacceptable to others. We have all arisen to sentient being, in the mighty System of which we are a part. Progression and happiness are desired and pursued, and are attainable by all. The varying ocean of human life is the present scene, in which these are to be acquired, so long as we remain in it. Here, also, we are to fit and prepare ourselves, for securing the continuation of these blessings, in the unknown regions of ethereal space, into which we are all passing. The Lord of this World is the Sovereign of every other; and this consideration makes it important to us to gain the fullest knowlege of His mind, ideas and feelings, that we can obtain from His creations around us, and from all the sources thro which, He has communicated them to us. If the following Work shall, in its present essay or future progress, assist any to form right conceptions and exhilarating hopes of this stupendous Being-so awful, yet so good—so invisible, and yet so manifest; and of His moral arrangements and conduct of human affairs, and of His ulterior destination of His improveable Creatures -the main object of its Author will be fully and pleasingly accomplished. Winchmore Hill, Middlesex, THE AUTHOR has only to express his acknowlegements to his Countrymen, and his gratification, that they have so favorably received his Work, as to make a THIRD Edition of it necessary within nine months after the publication of the first. 24 November 1832. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Creation of Vegetation-Necessity of Light and Air to it-On The local Creation and gradual Diffusion of Plants-The Fossil Traces and Remains of ancient Plants in the Subterranean Strata- Their Indications of the Primeval State and Vegetation The Creation of the Fish and Whales and other Marine Animals The Forms and Colours of Fishes and other Inhabitants of On the Nature and Phenomena of the Mental Principle which appears in the Fish and other Orders of animated Beings that A brief Review of the Mollusca, Testacea, Zoophyte and Infusiora Orders; and of their Indications of Feeling and Mind, page 325 The Formation of Quadrupeds-Their Linnæan Classification into The Oviparous and Amphibious Quadrupeds-The Tortoise, Crocodile, and Lizard Tribes-A general View of their Nature, On the Formation of Insects-Their Classes and Importance- On the Fossil Remains of Animals found in the Rocks and Strata of the Earth-I. Those in the Secondary Strata of the Marine Classes-II. The Land Quadrupeds of the Tertiary Beds- |