The regret of Alexander can not be applied to the progress of
observation and intelligence.*
[footnote] * Plut., in 'Vita Alex. Magni', cap. 7
General considerations, whether they treat of the agglomeration of matter in
the heavenly bodies, or of the geographical distribution of terrestrial
organisms, are not only in themselves more attractive than special studies,
but they also afford superior advantages to those who are unable to devote
much time to occupations of this nature. The different branches of the
study of natural history are only accessible in certain positions of social
life, and do not, at every season
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and in every climate, present like enjoyments. Thus, in the dreary regions
of the north, man is deprived for a long period of the year of the spectacle
presented by the activity of the productive forces of organic nature; and if
the mind be directed to one sole class of objects, the most animated
narratives of voyages in distant lands will fail to interest and attract us,
if they do not touch upon the subjects to which we are most partial.
As the history of nations -- if it were always able to trace events to their
true causes -- might solve the ever-recurring enigma of the oscillations
experienced by the alternately progressive and retrograde movement of human
society, so might also the physical description of the world, the science of
the 'Cosmos', if it were grasped by a powerful intellect, and based upon a
knowledge of all the results of discovery up to a given period, succeed in
dispelling a portion of the contradictions which, at first sight, appear to
arise from the complication or phenomena and the multitude of the
perturbations simultaneously manifested.
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