Page:Herschel - A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy (1831).djvu/15

 PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE

ON

THE STUDY

OF

(1.) situation of man on the globe he inhabits, and over which he has obtained the control, is in many respects exceedingly remarkable. Compared with its other denizens, he seems, if we regard only his physical constitution, in almost every respect their inferior, and equally unprovided for the supply of his natural wants and his defence against the innumerable enemies which surround him. No other animal passes so large a portion of its existence in a