vi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
try as exerted upon Animal and Vegetable Life, upon the 
Woods, upon the Waters, and upon the Sands; and to these 
I have added a concluding chapter upon Man. 
It is perhaps superfluous to add, what indeed sufliciently 
appears upon every page of the volume, that I address myself 
not to professed physicists, but to the general intelligence of 
observing and thinking men; and that my purpose is rather to 
make practical suggestions than to indulge in theoretical specu- 
lations more properly suited to a different class from that for 
which I write. 
GEORGE P. MARSH. 
December 1, 1863. 
