4 



Preface, 



the qualifications necessary for editing such a work vi'ith success, 

 he might make a parade of his own attainments, and describe the 

 pains he has taken to secure the occasional contributions of a 

 very wide circle of scientific friends, and to procure the most 

 valuable continental journals with as much rapidity as is consist^ 

 ent with the present limited and decreased state of intercourse 

 with other countries. But many circumstances prevent him 

 from attempting any such enumeration. Whatever pains the 

 editor of a periodical work may take to display his qualifications^ 

 and whatever magnificent promises he may make, the public 

 never fail to suspend their judgment, and to decide upon the 

 work by its intrinsic merit. A few Numbers of the Annals of 

 Mechanical Philosophy, Chemistry, Agriculture, and 

 THE Arts, will put it in the power of the public to estimate its 

 value, and how far it is likely to contribute to the progress of 

 useful knowledge. It is not necessary to develope the plan 

 which the editor means to follow, any farther than it is developed 

 by the title, and by the number now offered to the attention of 

 the public. It may he necessary, however, to mention, that with 

 regard to plates he does not intend to follow the same regularity 

 as the philosophical journals at present published in London. 

 Should it be necessary on any occasion he will not hesitate to 

 give three or four plates in a single number, and when no plates 

 are wanted in any particular number, he will not scruple to omit 

 them. For he does not consider it as a practice which ought to 

 be followed to introduce papers of trifling value, merely because 

 they require to be illustrated by a plate, 



