PREFACE. 



The Periodical of which the present number seems likely to prove the last, 

 was established about a year ago by twenty-four of the inhabitants of Bristol 

 and Clifton. By these gentlemen the present Editor was requested to undertake 

 ,, that office, and by them the expenses of the Journal have been supported, 

 that is to say the expenses of printing and publishing, since none others have 

 been incmTed. 



The general, and a very just cause of complaint against this Journal, has 

 been the dr^iiess of its articles ; nor can this be wondered at when it be stated 

 that, in the absence of other contributors, the gTeater part of the work has of 

 necessity jjroceeded from one, and that an inexperienced pen; so that some 

 of the papers are crude and ill aiTanged, and others %vi'itten with a degree 

 of obscmity, due rather to the want of complete knowledge of his subject 

 on the part of the WTiter, than to any abstiuseness inherent in the subject 

 itself. In the multitude of clear and able living -miters, it is hardly necessary 

 to appeal to the works of Mrs. Somerville or Sir John Herschel, to prove 

 abmidantly that sciences of a far higher character than any here treated of, 

 admit of being both adequately and popularly explained. 



But however justly these censures may apply to the Editor's share in the 

 work, they do not apply to the whole. Tliere will be found in this volume 

 a few contributions from those who have reached the summits of their res- 

 pective branches of knowh^dge, and whose writings are therefore to be treated 

 with attention and respect. Had not the dedication of an incomplete 

 periodical appeared almost to be a burlesque, the names of Mr. Con\beare 

 and Dr. Prichard would have been selected by the Editor, both on public 

 and private giounds. 



4.'>, KniuGK SiRKP.T, West.minstkr, 

 January, 18.1'>. 



