great divisions of Science and Literature. It has been our object in the present 

 number, to introduce some of the principal of those subjects which appeared 

 likely to display the widest field of interest, by preliminary dissertations, calcu- 

 lated to indicate our views of the actual state of those branches of Science, and 

 the spirit in which it will be our wish to treat them. 



With rei^ard to Science, we shall endeavour to avail ourselves of all the pecu- 

 liar local advantages afforded by tlie very interesting Geological situation of this 

 Metropolis. Placed in the centre of a rich coal field, and yet on the edge of the 

 great range of the oolites, and within a few miles of the cretaceous Downs of 

 Wiltshire on the one side, and the transition chains of the Quantocks and 

 Exmoor on the other ; we have, taking Bristol as a centre, mthin a circle of 

 thirty miles, every Geological formation, from chalk to transition slate. Every 

 walk through the lovely dales which diversify our scenery, is as rich in Geological 

 interest as in picturesque beauty; and we may hope to open to our readers a 

 new and copious source of instruction and pleasure in their daily excursions. 



In Zoology it will be our object to enable our readers to consult with increased 

 interest and instruction the ample collections already formed in our Rluseum ; 

 and by diffusing more generally a taste for such pursuits, to lead the way to that 

 extension of those collections which may be well expected in a city whose 

 inhabitants are commercially connected with every quarter of the globe, and 

 where, therefore, the facilities afforded to the establishment of a superior 

 Museum of Natural History must be proportionably great. 



In the rapidly expanding and intimately connected sciences of Chemistry and 

 the "arious branches of Electricity, we would fain hope to contribute to the 

 forming a spirit among the members of our Philosophical Society, which might 

 induce them to avail themselves of the advantages which the Laboratory and 

 Apparatus belonging to our Institution are so well calculated to afford. The 

 conveniences of private houses and private means, will scarcely ever afford 

 opportunities for the successful cultivation of such pursuits ; but it is one of the 

 great advantages which Institutions like ours afford, that they fully supply this 

 deficiency. Our apparatus already is ample ; but it ought to be kept up to such 

 a pitch, as to enable all our members (replacing of course any damage which 

 might be occasioned,) to repeat every new experiment of which they read, and 

 to prosecute original ones. This end will easily be attained, if a more general 

 interest in such pursuits shall prevail among us. To excite that interest, there- 

 fore, will be our constant aim ; and in proportion as we may succeed in directing 



