DEDICATION. ΤΟ JAMES FORBES, ESQ. FELLOW OF THE ROYAL AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETIES of London, AND MEMBER OF THE ARCADIAN SOCIETY AT ROME. IF I was asked what were my motives for dedicating this little Work to you, my very dear relative, and early friend, I could only reply, that I am anxious to pay some lasting tribute of respect to the character of one who has contributed, more than any of my own particular friends, to the encourage ment, and progress, of those delightful pursuits which have filled up many of the happiest hours of my life, and whose interests this little Essay is intended to ad vance. It is not to proclaim virtues which have long been known and felt through a widely extended circle of society;-it is not to panegyrize talents that have already secured a large portion of public regard; nor is it for any base purpose of flattery, that I approach you with this little offering ;—no! -I have inscribed this volume to your name, because I am acquainted with no one who is better able to appreciate the value of the doctrines it would inculcate ;with no one who is more solicitous for the general cultivation and improvement of the study of Natural History in this country ;and with no one who is more sincere, hum ble, and devout, in his worship of that GREAT, ALMIGHTY, Universal, Parent, with whose wisdom and power, as displayed in the works of creation, it should be the business of our lives to become acquainted. From the earliest years, you have, yourself, been attached to the fascinating pursuits of natural science; and you have cultivated them with the most ample success, in regions of the world far more interesting to the present state of philosophy, because less known, than any of those it has hitherto been my fortune to visit; and I am rejoiced to find that the public are so soon to have an opportunity of judging with what effect the valuable hours of your leisure, during a long residence in the East, have been employed. To none, therefore, can I dedicate a little volume of this nature with greater pro priety, than to one who is already acquainted with the importance of the study on which it treats, and who is ardently desirous of seeing it more generally cultivated. Receive it, then, as an humble attempt to illustrate some new and grand views of the operations of Nature, and of the designs of the GREAT FIRST CAUSE, that have lately opened upon my studies; and which, I believe, are capable of an extraordinary and interesting developement. Receive it also as a small tribute of my love and respect for the character of one to whom I am indebted for a thousand kindnesses and benefits, which can neither be enumerated, nor properly acknowledged, on an occasion like this, but which are deeply engraven upon my heart. Farewell-and, that you may long con. tinue to be the ornament of your own |