EDITOR'S PREFACE. 



The two introductory discourses, which occupy 48 pages 

 in the German edition, have been rewritten by M. de 

 Humboldt himself in the French language, for the French 

 edition, in which they fill 78 pages. These were commu- 

 nicated to the Editor in their passage through the press, 

 and by the Author's desire have been followed in preference 

 to the corresponding portion of the German text, where 

 modifications or additions had been introduced. 



Short as the interval has been, since Cosmos was written, 

 it has not been unmarked by the progress which has been 

 made in several branches of scientific knowledge. In 

 astronomy it has been distinguished by the discovery of a 

 new planet, Astrea, making the number of those bodies 

 belonging to our solar system twelve instead of eleven: 

 also of the two heads of Biela's comet, a phenomenon pre- 

 viously unknown. These discoveries, however, in no 

 respect affect the reasonings in Cosmos. The optical 

 means at the command of astronomers have also been 

 improved, by the construction of a telescope of unparalleled 

 dimensions by the Earl of Rosse : and the few trials which 

 have yet been made of its powers, lead to the belief, that the 

 greater part, if not the whole, of the nebulse will be resolved 

 by it into stars : happily the Author of Cosmos will himself 

 have an opportunity, in the succeeding volumes, of stating 

 the influence which a discovery of this nature may exercise 



