4 INTRODUCTORY. 
The matter offered to our réader’s acceptance will be 
mostly drawn from original sources. Occasionally we 
shall extract from the pages of our contemporaries. The 
most recent discoveries of general interest will be gleaned 
from the English, German, and French reviews and jour- 
nals,—for science is cosmopolitan. Thus, following My 
Lord Bacon’s bidding, we shall “prick in some flowers 
of that he hath learned abroad” for the better adornment 
of this our Naturalists’ Companion and Solace. 
The editorial responsibility seems great, and nothing 
but the boundless wealth of nature spread out before us, 
the untiring good will of our scientific friends in contrib- 
uting to our pages, and the promise of the kindly appre- 
ciation of the public, can be an excuse for our appearance, 
and for any apparent presumption in our bearing. 
