QUARTEELY JOURNAL 



at THB 



FOLKESTONE 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



DECEMBEB, 1868. 



ADDRESS. 



In the present glut of the literary market as regards periodi- 

 cal literature, an apology will be expected in hringiag before 

 the world another scientific quarterly. It will then, perhaps, 

 be well to state the grounds on which such a course of action 

 may best be defended. 



The days are happily long gone by, when scientific theories 

 were constantly beiug propounded regardless, or nearly so, 

 of experimental observation, and when each philosopher 

 thought it his duty to outbid aU others by the wildness and 

 extravagance of his speculations. And with the expiration of 

 what may be called the theoretical period of science, and the 

 substitution for it of a more solid method of reasoning, the 

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