Chap. XXI.] Littr a ry Journals: 79 



ajDpear to have taken their rise near the middle of 

 the seventeenth century ; but, for a considerable 

 time afterwards, they w^ere few in number, and 

 were presented to the public at distant and irre- 

 gular intervals. Since the commencement of the 

 period under consideration, they have greatly in- 

 creased in number, in the extent of their circula- 

 tion, and in the practical and useful nature of their 

 contents. Associations for literary and scientific 

 purposes, of various kinds, and under diiferent 

 names, have multiplied in every part of the learn- 

 ed world, and have laid before the public, at 

 stated times, the result of their experiments and 

 inquiries ; insomuch that from the aggregate of 

 their Transactions a catalogue might be formed 

 of several thousand volumes, most of ^vhich in- 

 clude much matter highly interesting to the phi- 

 losopher, the artist, and the man of taste, and may 

 be considered as presenting a tolerable history of 

 human knowledge during the period which they 

 embrace. 



This mode of recording and announcing the 

 discoveries and labours of science, though pro-, 

 ductive of much good, is yet not without its dis- 

 advantages. To understand the memoirs and acts 

 which these ponderous volumes contain, usually 

 requires a profound knovvledge of the subject. 

 They are addressed by philosophers to philoso- 

 phers. Hence, though their circulation is more 

 extensi?e in modern times than formerly, they are, 

 of necessity, even yet read by a chosen few. On 

 this account it is, that while the archives of so- 

 cieties are filled with interesting and instructive 

 memoirs, these labours of the learned are seldom 



