LETTERS

ΤΟ

A YOUNG NATURALIST.

LETTERS

ΤΟ

A YOUNG NATURALIST

ON

THE STUDY OF NATURE AND
NATURAL THEOLOGY.

BY JAMES L. DRUMMOND, M.D.

PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

IN THE ROYAL BELFAST ACADEMICAL INSTITUTION;
PRESIDENT OF THE BELFAST NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY;
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF
NORTHUMBERLAND, DURHAM, AND NEWCASTLE,
&c. &c.

"Could mankind be prevailed upon to read a few lessons from the great
book of Nature, so amply spread out before them, they would clearly see
the hand of Providence in every page; and would they consider the
faculty of reasoning as the distinguishing gift of the human race, and use it
as the guide of their lives, they would find their reward in a cheerful
resignation of mind, in peace and happiness, under the conscious per-
suasion, that a good naturalist cannot be a bad man."
BEWICK.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR

LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMAN,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1832.

LEIAN

D'

MAR 1956

LIBRARY

LETTERS

TO A

YOUNG NATURALIST.

MY YOUNG FRIEND,

May, 1830.

A WELL-DIRECTED attention to the works of nature tends in an incalculable degree to elevate our conceptions of the omnipotence and unerring wisdom of the Almighty, and is congenial to every innocent and amiable propensity of the human mind. It is to be regretted, however, that comparatively few persons have distinct or enlarged ideas of the world around them. The objects which have been familiar to their eyes from infancy, are considered only as matters of course; and while every thing that appears in the vast page of creation is, one should think, tempting them to a perusal of its origin and history, the general bias, unfortunately, is to put a chief value on deviations from nature, and to consider only as curious and interesting those irregular productions which break through her laws, which mar her beauty, which are aberrations from the wisdom that formed every thing in perfection, without blemish, and without possibility of amend

B