COSMOS: 



A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE. 



SPECIAL RESULTS OF OBSERVATION IN THE DOMAIN OP 

 TERUESTRIAL PHENOMENA. 



INTRODUCTION. 



IN a work of very extensive scope, in which facility of 

 comprehension and the production of a clear and distinct 

 general impression are especially aimed at, the structure of 

 the work, and the co-ordination and arrangement of the 

 several parts which compose the whole, are almost even 

 more important than the richness and abundance of the 

 materials. This is the more sensibly felt in the " Cosmos," 

 or te Book of Nature/' where it is necessary to separate 

 carefully the generalisation of our theme, both in the ob- 

 jective view of external phenomena and in the reflection of 

 nature in the mirror of man's inner being, from the nar- 

 ration of the several results of observation. The first two 

 volumes of my work were devoted to the generalisation thus 



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