PREFACE. 



NATIONS, during the successive phases of their 

 evolution on the globe, in which they advance 

 from a state of infancy and barbarism to one 

 of virility and civilization, from civilization to 

 decadence or senility; and from decadence to 

 their final extinction, are liable to numberless 

 calamities. 



These calamities are produced by moral 

 causes, and are then called social Eevolutions ; 

 and in other instances from physical causes, and 

 then they are termed Cataclysms, Epidemics, 

 or Epizootics. 



In these crises, the initiative and devotion 

 of individuals, the public administration, and 

 the application of knowledge acquired in the 

 Arts and Sciences, afford collectively an infal- 



