11 



PROSPECTUS. 



useful knowledge. As tliis work will be issued annually, the reading 

 public may easily and promptly possess themselves of the most im- 

 portant facts discovered or announced in these departments, from year 

 to year. 



The editors are so situated as to have access to all the scientific 

 publications of America, Great Britain, France, and Germany ; and 

 have also received, for the present volume, the approbation as well 

 as the counsel and personal contributions of many of the ablest scien- 

 tific men in this country, among whom are PROFESSORS AGASSIZ, 

 HORSFORD, and WYMAN, of Harvard University, and they have the 

 promise in future, from many scientific gentlemen, of articles not pre- 

 viously published elsewhere. They have not confined themselves to 

 an examination of Scientific Journals and Reports, but have drawn 

 from every source which furnished any thing of scientific interest. 

 For those who have occasion for still further researches, they have 

 furnished a copious Index to the scientific articles in the American 

 and European Journals; and, moreover, they have prepared a list of 

 all books pertaining to Science which have appeared originally, or by 

 republication, in the United States, during the year. A classified List 

 of Patents, and brief obituaries of men distinguished in Science or 

 Art, who have recently died, render the work still more complete. 

 They have also taken great pains to make the General Index to the 

 whole as full and correct as possible. 



It will thus be seen, that the plan of the " ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC 

 DISCOVERY " is well designed to make it what it purports to be, a sub- 

 stantial summary of the discoveries in Science and Art ; and no pains 

 have been spared on the part of the editors to fulfil the design, and 

 render it worthy of patronage. 



As the work is not intended for scientific men exclusively, but to 

 meet the wants of the general reader, it has been the aim of the edi- 

 tors that the articles should be brief and intelligible to all ; and to give 

 authenticity, the source from whence the information is derived is 

 generally stated. Although they have used all diligence to render 

 this first issue as complete as possible, in its design and execution, yet 

 they hope that experience, and the promised aid and cooperation from 

 the many gentlemen interested in its success, will enable them in fu- 

 ture to improve both on the plan and the details. 



The work in manuscript has been submitted to several distinguished 

 gentlemen, to judge of its merits, and they have given their unquali- 

 fied approbation of the plan and its execution. We subjoin extracts 

 from letters received from some of these gentlemen. 



