PEEFAOE TO THE FIEST EDITIOH". IX 



plying population and the impoverislied resources of the globe 

 demand new triumphs of mind over matter, suggests a corre- 

 sponding division of the general subject, and I have conformed 

 the distribution of the several topics to the chronological succes- 

 sion in which man must be supposed to have extended his sway 

 over the different provinces of his material kingdom. I have, 

 then, in the introductory chapter, stated, in a comprehensive 

 way, the general effects and the prospective consequences of hu- 

 man action upon the earth's sm-f ace and the life which peoples 

 it. This chapter is followed by four others in which I have 

 traced the history of man's industry 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 

 Great Projects of Physical Change accomplished or proposed by 

 Man. 



It is perhaps superfluous to add, what indeed sufficiently ap- 

 pears upon every page of the volume, that I address myself not 

 to professed physicists, but to the general intelKgence of observ- 

 ing and thiuking men ; and that my purpose is rather to make 

 practical suggestions than to iadulge in theoretical speculations 

 more properly suited to a different class from that for which I 



write. 



GEOEGE P. MAESH. 

 December 1, 1863. 



