PROSPECTUS. 



The duty of superintending the publication of the Edinburgh 

 Journal of Natural and Geographical Science, having 

 devolved exclusively upon the present Editor, the attention of the 

 scientific public is requested to a brief detdl of certain alterations 

 which appear to him to be desirable in the plan of the work. 



In consequence of various circumstances, entirely of a private 

 nature, it was at one time proposed to publish the future numbers 

 at intervals of two months, and an announcement to this effect ac- 

 companied the concluding number of the second volume. So many 

 remonstrances, however, have been conveyed to the Editor against 

 such an arrangement, by those gentlemen who have agreed to de- 

 vote their talents to the execution of their respective departments, 

 and the superior usefulness of a monthly publication has been so 

 strongly urged upon him by the subscribers at large, that it has 

 been found impossible not to accede to these representations. 



This Journal will therefore continue to appear, as heretofore, at 

 monthly intervals ; whereby the same priority of information will 

 be obtained, and the numerous advantages to be derived from fre- 

 quent communication amongst the cultivators of science, will be 

 secured to the supporters of the work. 



The present era in the history of science, has been well named 

 by Cuvier the epoch of the division of labour, the usefulness of 

 which, first taught by the Arts, is now duly appreciated in the 

 diflferent branches of Science. Impressed with the importance of 

 this method of prosecuting the dissemination, as well as the acqui- 

 sition, of knowledge, the Editor has sought for and obtained the 

 co-operation of those individuals whose distinguished names appear 

 in the list of Directors. At once capable of producing original 

 articles on the subject which is under his charge, and possessed of 

 that power of discriminating between the useful and the unimpor- 

 tant, which experience alone can give, each of these gentlemen 

 will have the exclusive direction of his particular portion of the 

 work. By this means, it is expected that this Journal will in fu- 

 ture be found to be an accurate register of all that is worth know- 

 ing in the progress of discovery, and a work of reference, upon 

 which the historian of science may confidently rely. 



