3 



The superior advantages to be derived from a periodical which 

 may be referred to as a record of facts, have, from the Editor's re- 

 cent intimacy vi^ith similar w^orks, become strikingly apparent to 

 him, — the more particularly, that in this country there does not 

 seem to be a single publication in which this subject has been suffi- 

 ciently kept in view. This Journal will consequently be in future 

 considered as a repertorium of facts, in which it will be the anxious 

 desire of the Directors to collect every thing that may be useful to 

 the testing of opinions, and to the foundation of legitimate theory. 



The work will be divided into three principal heads : — I. Ori- 

 ginal Articles ; II. Collections op Facts ; and III. No- 

 tices AND Analyses of New Books and Papers, in our own 

 and other languages. 



I. Under the head of Original Articles, are intended to be 

 comprized translations of entire original papers, which the former 

 arrangement of the work excluded from its pages. 



In this division alone, controversial subjects will be admitted, 

 under the sanction of the authors* names, — with the view to limit 

 that kind of discussion which, under an anonymous form, occasion- 

 ally disfigures the pages of scientific works. But, with the respon- 

 sibility of the author's name, the utmost latitude, consistent with 

 the courtesies of society, will be allowed to the expression of opi- 

 nion. 



II. The Collections will be distributed in the following 

 order :— 



1. Geographical Collections : 



Under which head it is expected that, from the recent establish- 

 ment of a Geographical Society in London, a fund of information, 

 previously unattainable, will be laid before the public. 



2. Zoological Collections, including Comparative Ana- 



tomy and Physiology. 



3. Botanical Collections, with Vegetable Physiology. 



4. Geological Collections, including Mineralogy. 



It will be observed that a slight alteration is thus made in the 

 general heads under which the Collections are arranged. A more 

 minute subdivision might at first sight seem desirable, and was in- 



