Natural history is the most extensive, and perhaps the most instructive and entertaining of all the sciences. It is the chief source from which human knowledge is derived. To recommend the study of it from motives of utility, were to affront the understanding of mankind.


Translated by William Smellie, In Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon, Natural History, General and Particular (Volume 1) (2nd edition)

William Smellie Quotes

Natural history is the most extensive, and perhaps the most instructive and entertaining of all the sciences. It is the chief source from which human ...

Natural history is the most extensive, and perhaps the most instructive and entertaining of all the sciences. It is the chief source from which human ...

Natural history is the most extensive, and perhaps the most instructive and entertaining of all the sciences. It is the chief source from which human ...

Natural history is the most extensive, and perhaps the most instructive and entertaining of all the sciences. It is the chief source from which human ...