PREFATORY ADDRESS. 9 



treated of are so conne&ed and interwoven the one with 

 the other, has necessarily required much refle&ion. 

 Great care has been taken, in the arrangement adopted, 

 to lead the mind of the reader from the discussion of such 

 substances as are simple, to those that are of a compound 

 nature; the pradtically useful observations unfolding 

 themselves as the work advances. 



Contrary to the system of modern oratory and book- 

 making, perspicuity, and its constant attendant, brevity, 

 have been uniformly adhered to, under the convi&ion, 

 that clear ideas are best expressed by the fewest words. 



" Non asseveravi qu<z vast it as hujus scientite continent 

 cunBa me di&urum sed quczdam : nam illud in unius 

 hominis prudentiam cadere non poterat ; neque enim est 

 ulla disciplina aut ars^ qui singulars consummate* sit in- 



genio" 



COLUMELLA, lib. v, f. 166. 



B 



