CONTEMPLATION OF THE UNIVERSE. Ill 



to be regarded as the object of such an undertaking. In 

 making this announcement, for the sake of preserving to my 

 work on the Cosmos the peculiar character which can alone 

 render its execution possible, I doubtless expose myself 

 anew to the strictures of those who dwell less on that which 

 a book contains, than on that which, according to their indi- 

 vidual views, ought to be found in it. I have purposely 

 entered far more into detail in the earlier than in the later 

 portions of history. Where the sources from whence the 

 materials are to be drawn are less abundant, combination is 

 less easy, and the opinions propounded may require a fuller 

 reference to authorities less generally known. I have also 

 freely permitted myself to treat my materials at unequal 

 length, where the narration of particulars could impart a more 

 lively interest. 



As the recognition of the Cosmos began with intuitive 

 presentiments, and with only a few actual observations made 

 on detached portions of the great realm of nature, so it 

 appears to me, that the historical representation of the con- 

 templation of the universe may fitly proceed first from a 

 limited portion of the earth's surface. I select for this pur- 

 pose the basin of the Mediterranean, around which dwelt those 

 nations from whose knowledge our western cultivation (the 

 only one of which the progress has been almost uninter- 

 rupted), is immediately derived. We may indicate the princi- 

 pal streams through which have flowed the elements of the 

 civilisation, and of the enlarged views of nature, of western 

 Europe ; but we cannot trace back these streams to one com- 

 mon primitive fountain. A deep insight into the forces and 

 a recognition of the unity of nature, does not belong to an 

 original and so-called primitive people, notwithstanding 

 that such an insight has been attributed at different periods, 



