24 



INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS. 



over the beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, and which 

 bestows on individuals among mankind, a pre-eminence more 

 substantial and less invidious than birth, wealth, titles, or pop- 

 ular applause, can be acquired only by three modes, observa- 

 tion, conversation, and reading-. Althoug-h observation and 

 conversation are fruitful resources for the attainm.ent of usefal 

 ideas, the impressions they make are but transient, and when 

 committed to no other record but that of the memory, cannot 

 be rendered permanently useful. But when a useful discov- 

 ery or improvement in agriculture, as well as in any other 

 occupation, is committed to the press, and by that means pre- 

 served, they may thereby become extensively useful, not only 

 to our citizens g-enerally, now on the stage of'life, but to remote 

 posterity. Many of the sciences are industriously pursued, 

 and considered as objects worthy of great attention, on 

 account of the intellectual pleasure they afford, and because 

 they enable us to extend our view^s, and to reason more cor- 

 rectly concerning the objects which surround us. But the 

 discoveries in the cultivation of the earth, are not confined to 

 the time and country in which they are made, but maybe con- 

 sidered a,s extending to future ages, and intended to meliorate 

 the condition of the whole human race, and providing subsia- 

 teiice and enjoyment for generations yet unborn. 



