Bancroft Ub&& 



TO THE FIRST EDITION. 



HE present Volume is intended to furnish a very general view of 

 the leading appearances of Physical Nature the economy of the 

 heavens and the earth with incidental notices of the progress of 

 discovery, and pictorial representations of remarkable phenomena and 

 interesting localities. Kegarding it as one of the happy tendencies 

 of the age, to be more in favour of intellectual occupations than of 

 the vulgar animal recreations that were formerly courted, the writer 

 has endeavoured to supply a digest of the knowledge obtained respecting the 

 " wondrous whole," of which we form a part, which the enterprise of the proprietors 

 of the work has profusely illustrated. 



In submitting the accomplishment of this design to the judgment of the public, 

 the writer may be allowed to observe, that he was called to the task at a very short 

 notice ; that disadvantageous circumstances, which could neither be foreseen nor 

 avoided, have much interfered with its execution ; but that he has honestly 

 endeavoured, amid professional engagements, and oft-recurring physical debility, to 

 carry out the design of the projectors. 



THE AUTHOR. 



The extensive sale experienced by Milner's GALLERY OF NATURE since its first 

 publication, a few years ago, is the best proof of the happy adaptation of the book 

 to its object ; which was to convey to the popular mind to the young in particular 

 a general idea of the external Wonders of the Heavens and the Earth. Written 

 in an easy and agreeable style, and profusely illustrated, it may fairly be said to 

 have gained a position above all the similar works of its day. To sustain its place 

 as a favourite Gift-book and useful member of the Village Library, it seems only 

 necessary that it should be kept, in all particulars, in harmony with the present 

 state of Science. 



The Work has now accordingly been carefully and thoroughly revised by the 

 Author, with the advantage of all recent additions and corrections supplied by 

 modern investigators, and with the further benefit of a considerable number of new 

 illustrations. 



W. & R C. 



