PREFACE. 



i. HERE is fcarcely a more difficult taflc than to convey an adequate notion of a plan of 

 feme extent, within the limits of a fhort difcourfe. Whatever may be the promifes, the 

 hopes, or the intentions of an Author or Editor, the world, as in juftice it ought, will fuf- 

 pend its judgment till the a£lual performance fhall afford the knowledge which is indif- 

 penfable for that purpofe. Correfpondents will arrange for themfelves fuch materials as 

 they think fit to publifh, without committing to memory any of the outlines which the 

 authors of.Journals may have drawn up. For thefe reafons, little more need be faid con- 

 cerning the plan, than is prefented in the title-page. Whatever the a£livity of men of 

 fcience or of art may bring forward, of invention or improvement, in any country or nation 

 within the poffibility of being procured, by means as refpeftable as the motives that call for 

 tliem, fliall appear In this Journal ; either in the form of fliort notices, or the full defcrip- 

 tions of their rcfpeiDive authors, or the more ample report deduced from a£lual vifitation 

 and enquiry. 7 he relative magnitude of each ohjeQ. will eftablifh the rule from which 

 either of thefe modes will be adopted. Arrangements have already been made, channels of 

 communication opened, and other correfpondences are in profpeft, which mufl increafe, in 

 value and extent, proportionate to the importance and curiofity of the fubje(£ls to be dif- 

 played in this work, and the impartiality and care with which they fhall be treated. 



In a former Addrefs to the Public the Author has mentioned the advantages in regard to 

 accuracy and fidelity which he apprehends muft refult from the condu£lor of a work of 

 this nature becoming, in a certain degree, refponfible by name for its contents : he has 

 alluded to the general tenor of his purfuits, as known to the Public, and in fome refpecl 

 qualifying him to engage in fuch a talk ; and he has deprecated the fuppofition of any vain 

 pretence to fuperiority, by remarking, that no one could ferve the Public in this way if he 

 were to wait with the abfurd hope of firft bringing his own knowledge to a Hate of per- 

 fection. This is all that need be faid relating to himfelf. 



The leading charaiSler on which the fele£t:ion of objefts wilt be grounded is utility ; and 

 next to this, novelty and originality. The Author's refearches and collcftions, and thofe of 

 his friends, will aflbrd a confiderable portion of new and curious matter, fufficient to ren- 

 der the work interefling, even to that extreme few who are fo fortunate as to have accefs 

 to all the expanded fources of philofophical intelligence. But in the department of perfedlly 

 original matter, much of prudence is required to beexerclfed, in order that the claim of no- 

 velty may not operate to the exclufion of much more valuable and important fubjefts. It is 

 certain that, if every article In a journal of fcience were to be profefTedly original *, it would 

 be a work of comparatively much lefs value to Phllofophers and the Public. Such a plan 

 would in a great meafure defeat the attempt to convey the bell difcoveries of our cotem- 

 poraries in the moft authentic manner, namely, in their own words. And when we refle£b 



* Lcwii's Philofophical Commerce of Arts, and various otlicrjiublkations of inferior note, have failed of pub- 

 lic fup[)ort, chiefly from ihii circumllancc in their plan. 



on 



