NOTICE. 



The series of Treatises, of which the present is one, is 

 published under the following circumstances: 



The Right Honourable and Revereno Francis 

 Henry, Earl of Bridgewater, died in the month of 

 February, 1829 ; and by his last Will and Testament, bearing- 

 date the 25th of February, 1825, he directed certain Trustees 

 therein named to invest in the public funds the sum of Eight 

 thousand pounds sterling; this sum, with the accruing divi- 

 dends thereon, to be held at the disposal of the President, for 

 the time being, of the Royal Society of London, to be paid to 

 the person or persons nominated by him. The Testator further 

 directed, that the person or persons selected by the said 

 President should be appointed to write, print, and publish 

 one thousand copies of a work On the Power, Wisdom, and 

 Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation ; illustrating 

 such work by all reasonable arguments, as for instance the 

 variety and formation of God's creatures in the animal, 

 vegetable, and mineral kingdoms ; the effect of digestion, and 

 thereby of conversion ; the construction of the hand of ?jian, 

 and an, infnite variety of other arguments ; as also by dis- 

 coveries ancient and tnodern, in arts, sciences, and the whole 

 extent of literature. He desired, moreover, that the profits 

 arising from the sale of the works so published should be paid 

 to the authors of the works. 



The late President of the Royal Society, Davies Gilbert, 

 Esq. requested the assistance of his Grace the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury and of the Bishop of London, in determining upon 

 the best mode of carrying into effect the intentions of the 

 Testator. Acting with their advice, and with the concurrence 

 of a nobleman immediately connected with the deceased, 

 Mr. Davies Gilbert appointed the following eight gentlemen 

 VOL. I. b 



