Xv1 PREFACE. 
and a rich collection of minerals and fossils, including a skeleton 
of the Mastodon, which is rivalled only by the specimen of unex-- 
ampled magnitude and perfection, in the private museum of Dr. 
John C. Warren in Boston. 
Philadelphia may also boast of her cabinets of natural history, 
public and private: and one of the noblest collections of birds in 
the world,* bestowed on his country by Mr. Wilson of Delaware, 
has been, within a few months, added to the valuable collections 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences at that place. 
When we began our Journal, not one of the States had been 
surveyed in relation to its geology and natural history ; now those 
that have not been explored are few in number. State collec- 
tions and a United States Museum hold forth many allurements 
to the young naturalist, as well as to the archeologist and the 
student of his own race. ‘The late Exploring Expedition with 
the National Institute, has enriched the capital with treasures 
rarely equalled in any country, and the Smithsonian Institution 
recently organized at Washington, is about to begin its labors 
for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men. 
It must not be forgotten that the American Association of 
Geologists and Naturalists—composed of individuals assembled 
from widely separate portions of the Union—by the seven ses- 
sions which it has held, and by its rich volume of reports, has 
produced a concentration and harmony of effort which promise 
happy results, especially as, like the British Association, it visits 
different towns and cities in its annual progress. 
Astronomy now lifts its exploring tubes from the observatories 
of many of our institutions. Even the Ohio, which within the 
memofy of the oldest living men, rolled along its dark waters 
through interminable forests, or received the stains of blood 
from deadly Indian warfare, now beholds on one of its most 
beautiful hills, and near its splendid city, a permanent observa- 
tory with a noble telescope sweeping the heavens, by the hand of 
a zealous and gifted observer. At Washington also, under the pow- 
erful patronage of the general government, an excellent observatory 
has been established, and is furnished with superior instruments, 
* Late the Rivoli collection of Paris. 
