cvi KANT'S UNIVERSAL NATURAL HISTORY 



take the place of the original, or dispense the 

 student from studying it in its detail. This is the 

 raison d'etre of this translation, which it is hoped 

 will be helpful to the student who does not read 

 German. It was undertaken and carried on so far 

 before M. Wolf's French translation, already alluded 

 to, came into my hands, but it has been referred to 

 at important passages with advantage. M. Wolfs 

 translation could not but be good, yet he acknow- 

 ledges difficulties, and seems to falter at times 

 before them. I have translated as literally as 

 possible, and am not aware of having dropped 

 a phrase or even a significant word. This trans- 

 lation contains all the scientific matter finally 

 approved by Kant, as in Gensichen's Excerpt 

 of 1791, and as it was vefy undesirable to stop 

 just at that point, it goes somewhat further, giving 

 all Chapter VII. and its important Addendum. With 

 reluctance the translation of Chapter VIII., which 

 is mainly a recapitulation, and of Part III., 'On the 

 Inhabitants of the other Planets/ has been withheld, 

 after Kant's example ; but it is ready for the press, 

 and will be given if another opportunity occurs. It 

 is not of prime or essential necessity in studying 

 the Cosmogony. The title ' Cosmogony ' is used 

 according to Kant's original intention, and his 

 adoption of it in 1761. I cannot say that I have 

 felt, like M. Wolf, ' the expression sometimes 

 vague and badly defined,' or 'obscurities really 

 existing in Kant's work.' Kant, indeed, does not 



