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IN the preparation of this Treatise, the Author has kept steadily in view the objects at which he has aimed in the preceding volumes, and in the attainment of which he trusts that he has been in some degree successful ; namely, the exposition of the principles of Science in their simplest form, and the illustration of these by the most useful and interesting examples. He has so fully explained his views on the utility of the study of Zoology, and on the mode in which it may be most advantageously pursued, in the Intro- duction and First Chapter of the present volume, that he considers any further remarks on these subjects here uncalled for. A little reflection will show, that any general Zoological Treatise must necessarily be in great part a Compilation from the works of other Naturalists ; and the merit of an Elementary work like the present, must consist rather in the judgment shown in the selection and arrangement of the materials, than in the originality of its contents. How far the Author has succeeded in his present attempt, it will be for his readers to decide. Activity in general has already been referred to in connection with causation. next |