Excerpt from The Philosophy of Natural History: With an Introduction and Various Additions and Alterations, Intended to Adapt It to the Present State of Knowledge
About fifteen years ago, in a conversation with the late worthy, respectable and ingenious Lord Kames, upon the too general neglect of natural knowledge, his Lordship suggested the idea of composing a book on the Philosophy of Natural History. In a work of this kind, he proposed that the production of Nature, which to us are almost infinite, should, instead of being treated of individually, be arranged under general heads; that, in each of these divisions, the known facts, as will as reasoning, should be collected and methodized in the form of regular discourses; that as few technical terms as possible should be employed; and that all the useful and amusing views arising from the different subjects should be exhibited in such a manner as to convey both pleasure and information.
This task his Lordship was pleased to think me not altogether unqualified to attempt. The idea struck me. I thought that a work of this kind, if executed even with moderate abilities, might excite a taste for examining the various objects which every where solicit our attention. A habit of observation refines our feelings. It is a source of interesting amusement, prevents idle or vicious propensities, and exalts the mind to a love of virtue and rational entertainment.
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