PREFATORY ADDRESS. 9 



treated of are so conneftcd and interwoven the one with 

 the other, has necessarily required much reflcftion. 

 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 praftically useful observations unfolding 

 tliemselves 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 conviftion, 

 that clear ideas are best expressed by the fewest words. 



" Non asseveravi quee vast it as hujus scientice contineret 



cunBa me cliBurum sed queedam : nam illud in iinius 



hominis pnidentiom cadere non poterat ; neque enim est 



ulla disciplina aut ars, qui singulari consummaia sit in- 



genioT 



Columella, lib. v. f. 166. 



B 



