8 
[Assembly 
kind, and are of daily use and application to the mass of the people ; 
therefore we regard it as of essential importance that the work be cir- 
culated among the people of every town and district in the State, and 
at the lowest possible price which will repay the expense of publica- 
tion. We regard it as decided that no publisher can purchase the 
copyright of the State, and republish the work in its present form, 
and sell it at a price within the means of a large portion of the com- 
munity. Even if the copyright were given, we believe no publisher 
would undertake a republication of the work. The authors of the 
several volumes can abridge, rearrange and condense the matter con- 
tained in these volumes, preserving their important features and all 
the most important matter ; but no other person should be allowed to 
undertake such an abridgement, for obvious reasons. 
" It has been our intention, so soon as the work we have in hand 
should be finished, to commence the prepartion of our own part of 
the work, in an abridged form for pubhcation, intending to ask the 
Legislature to allow us the privilege of publishing the same. There 
is at present an extensive demand for the reports on the Natural His- 
tory of the State, and this demand can not be supplied, except to a 
very limited extent, by the present edition. The increasing attention 
to these studies render it necessary that suitable works should be fur- 
nished to those desiring this knowledge. Heretofore nearly all our 
works on natural history in every department, and especially illustrated 
works, have been foreign publications. The objects in the different 
departments of science in our own country have consequently been 
less known to us even than those of foreign countries. This work 
is the first that has appeared, commensurate with the wants of the 
community, and its materials are wholly of our country and our State. 
Such being the nature of this publication, it is certainly desirable that 
it should be as widely diffused as possible. Admitting for a moment 
that the copyrigbt may be sold for a large sum, this amount, be it what 
it may, will be drawn again from the people of the State, in the in- 
creased price of the work ; thus placing it beyond the reach of num- 
bers. 
It is our desire that such a course be taken as to insure the widest 
circulation of the work, and to place it in the hands of all, young and 
old, rich and poor, alike, giving all an opportunity of being benefitted 
thereby. By such a course the increased attention to subjects of na- 
tural history, and the increased number of persons who would thus 
