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Notices of Time's Telescope for 1815.

'We never met with a compilation better calculated for the use of families, and to serve as a portable companion for young persons, than this elegant little volume, which abounds with valuable information on subjects of general interest, and with a pleasing variety of rational entertainment. The book is written in a popular style, the articles are selected with great judgment from the best authorities; and while the scientific illustrations tend to quicken curiosity, the reflections interspersed with the extracts, occasionally given from the most charming of our poets, will increase the delight afforded by contemplating the works of nature, and raise the mind to a devout admiration of the Divine Author.-New Monthly Magazine, Jan. 1815.

'The Work before us supplies accurate, though popular, instruction on a variety of topics. It is written in a correct and tasteful style, enlivened by many exquisite quotations from the poets of the day; and is interspersed with such reflections as flow naturally from the conviction that knowledge, to be extensively beneficial, either to its possessor or to others, must be purified by religion, manifested in benevolence, and consecrated to God.'-Eclectic Review for February, 1815.

"The History of Astronomy, and the first principles of the art, are well displayed in this entertaining volume. It will be the source of much amusement and information upon the mysteries of the Almanack, and the appearances of the heavenly bodies. Much curious matter respecting the several Saints' Days has been collected together; which, with an accurate account of the flowers which blossom and the buds which appear in the course of every month, cannot fail to interest and instruct the reader,' British Critic for December 1814.

'We have no hesitation in giving "Time's Telescope" our unqualified commendation.'-Gentleman's Magazine for Febru ary 1815.

This is the second annual appearance of "Time's Telescope," and we willingly confess that it is much improved. The quantity of useful and interesting matter which is here amassed together, distributed with judicious appropriation under each month, is highly creditable to the industry and taste of the compiler.'-New Universal Magazine for December 1814.

What anger, envy, &c., can torment his breast, whom not only the greatest and noblest objects, but every sand, every pebble, every grass, every fly, can divert? To whom the returns of every season, every month, every day, do suggest a circle of most pleasing reflections.-SPRAT.

GOD is seen in all, and all in GOD:

I read his awful name, emblazoned high
With golden letters on th' illumined sky;
Nor less the mystic characters I see

Wrought on each flow'r, inscribed on ev'ry tree;
In ev'ry leaf that trembles on the breeze
I hear the voice of GOD among the trees;
In ev'ry creature own his forming power.

BARBAULD.

The meanest insect we can see, and the most contemptible weed we can tread upon, is really sufficient to confound atheism, and baffle all its pretensions. How much more that astonishing variety of GOD'S WORKS, with which we are continually surrounded!-BALGUY.

Introduction.

PRINCIPLES OF ZOOLOGY.

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Or the innumerable eyes that open upon Nature, none but those of MAN see its AUTHOR and its end.

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ALISON.

WHILE we contemplate the infinitely varied forms

in the field of nature, and trace their gradations or connexions, we possess the peculiar advantage of uniting amusement with instruction, and our minds are impressed with a train of the most pleasing ideas. It is no unimportant object, to be able to secure to ourselves some species of study, which, in its progress, may continue to afford a rational delight, and in the pursuit of which there can be no fear of soon exhausting the subject. The celebrated RAY, speaking of the study of natural history, says, No knowledge can be more pleasant to the soul than this; none so satisfying, or that doth so feed the mind; in comparison of which, the study of words and phrases seemeth insipid and jejune; for words being but the images of things, to be given up wholly to their study, what is it but to verify the folly of Pygmalion, to fall in love with a statue, and neglect the reality? The treasures of nature are inexhaustible: there is enough for the most indefatigable industry, the hap-. piest opportunities, the most prolix and undisturbed

vacancies.'

ZOOLOGY is the doctrine or description of the 'animal kingdom,' as Botany, or phytology, is that of the vegetable, and Mineralogy that of the mineral or fossil kingdom. NATURAL HISTORY, properly speaking, embraces the whole of these departments

of knowledge, though occasionally, but improperly, restricted to the first.

As the inferior animals upon our globe are so numerous, it would be impossible for mankind to distinguish them from one another, or to gain any considerable knowledge of their relative natures and habits, if they did not exhibit remarkable differences which render it easy to establish distinctions among them. Hence zoologists have always been attentive to these differences, and, by dividing animals accordingly, either into more or fewer classes, have conveniently formed what are called methods. It is certain, indeed, that no such classifications exist in nature, where all the various individuals constitute one continued and uninterrupted chain; yet they considerably assist the memory, and may be rendered truly useful guides in the study of animated being.

Several scientific and ingenious classifications or arrangements of the animal kingdom into classes, orders, genera, and species, have been successively adopted; among which, that of M. CUVIER, the celebrated French anatomist, must be allowed to possess a very high degree of merit. Though the arrangement of M. Cuvier evinces great anatomical precision, and the highest philosophical knowledge of animals, yet, upon the whole, it has a complicated and forbidding appearance to a general reader, and is, of course, less immediately attractive than the more simple arrangement of LINNÆUS, which divides the animal kingdom into six classes ;-mammalia, aves, amphibia, pisces, insecta, vermes, or such as suckle their young; birds; creatures living equally on land or in water; fishes; insects; and worms. Each of these classes is subdivided into orders, genera, species, and varieties of those species. But, as we have already treated the subject of Botany'*, we shall se

* See the Elements of Botany,' in the Introduction to T. T. for 1816,

lect the next connecting link in the great chain of Natural History, and commence with the lowest stages of animal existence.

CLASS I. Zoophytes and Worms.

Gradual, from these what numerous kinds descend,
Evading e'en the microscopic eye!

Full Nature swarms with life; one wondrous mass
Of animals, or atoms organized,

Waiting the vital breath, when Parent Heav'n
Shall bid his spirit blow.

THOMSON.

THE class vermes is divided by Linnæus into mollusca, vermes, zoophyta, and animalcula infusoria; or soft-bodied animals, plant-animals, worms, and animalcules of infusions. Nearly all the animals of the class vermes have but slow locomotive powers. Many of them have arterial and venous vessels, in which the blood undergoes a real circulation; but these are by no means common to the whole class. In some of them eyes and ears are very perceptible, while others seem to enjoy only the senses of taste and touch, which are never wanting. Many have no distinct head, and most of them are without feet. The whole of these creatures are very tenacious of life. In most of them, parts that have been destroyed will afterwards be reproduced.

I. ZOOPHYTA, zoophytes, or plant-animals, seem to hold a middle station between vegetables and animals. Most of them, deprived of locomotion, are fixed by stems that take root in the crevices of rocks, among sand, or in other situations. The genus hydra or polype first deserves our notice. These curious animals are found adhering to the stems of aquatic plants, or to the under-surfaces of the leaves. The species are multiplied by vegetation, one or two or even more young ones emerging gradually from the sides of the parent animal; and these young are frequently again prolific, so that it is not uncommon

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