The SvsTEMA Nature has for years l)een tlie object of 

 my most dihgent search ; but the idea which I have here 

 taken of the subject is scarcely a month old. An anxiety 

 to hear the opinions of others has urged me to scribble 

 these few pages, with, I fear, far more haste than good 

 speed; for it has happened that other engagements have 

 prevented my affording them any time but that usually 

 devoted to repose : so that the rapid and careless manner 

 in which the sketch has been drawn, must be my apology 

 for the very imperfect state in which I now offer it to the 

 public. I feel, however, a firm conviction that my theory 

 is too near an approach to truth, to suffer fi'om any garb, 

 however slovenly, in which I may have dressed it. 



I must for the same reason here observe, that I will in 

 no way pledge myself to the infallibility of the precise 

 points of contact hereafter proposed, nor shall I notice 

 any attempts which may be made to invalidate the principle 

 of my theory, by appealing to such trivial inaccuracies. 

 Feeble efforts of this kind are naturally and very excusably 

 called forth by a feeling of disappointment at the sudden 

 destruction of favourite and long-cherished theories : skil- 

 fully managed, they often throw a momentary shade over 

 truth, but never can extinguish it; he, therefore, who is 

 confident in having truth on his side, would be acting 

 ungenerously to quarrel with them. 



