( " )
Dr. John H u n t er ( th e au th o r « o f a Differtation, *
hominum vanetatibui) have furnifhed me with fome anatomical
fafls. Befides thefe works I have confuted many others, and
transferred into , thefe obfervationsl feveral ideas which1 though' analogous
to mine, were however new to me, and fome o f my own I
was much pleafed to find had been already adopted by the moil
ingenious men o f the age. M y object was nature- in its greateft
extent ; the Earth, the Sea, the Air, the Organic and Animated
Creation, and more particularly that clafs o f Beings to which wè
ourfeives belong. T h e Hiftory o f Mankind has often been 'attempted;
many writers have deferibed. the manners and. charafters
o f individuals, but few have traced the hillory o f men in general,
confidered as one large body. What is extant on that heid in thé
French and Engliih languages, contains either flight iketches
and fragments, or fyftems formed in the clofet or at leafl in the
bofom o f a nation highly civilized, and therefore in many refpefts1
degenerated from its original fimplicity. , None o f thefe authors--
ever had the opportunity o f contemplating mankind in this ftate,
and its various ftages.from that o f the moll wretched favages, removed
but in the firlt degree from abfolute animality, to the more-
poliflied and civilized inhabitants^ the Friendly and Society Ifles.'
Fafts are the bafis o f the whole ftrudture L h l few fair inferences
enabled me to finilh the whole. M y aim has been inftruftion,
and
can-
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and the inveiligation o f truth, as far as lies in my power. I
not expeft to have fatisfied every body, T o receive the approbation
o f the good and learned will be my ambition. I f proofs be
brought that my opinions are not admiflible, and i f thefe arguments
be communicated without rancour, I am open to conviftion,
and ihall think myfelf much indebted to the man, who will be
kind enough to convince me' o f my millake in a friendly manner :
i f on the contrary, feurrility and-abufe ferve inftead o f arguments,
the public will not, I hope, have a worfe opinion o f me for
thinking fuch treatment beneath any refentment and unworthy o f
reply.
London,
May the yoth, 1778.