4 
EEPOK.T OF 
observer of nature might have a station within his reach from 
which he could fix the relative position in this respect of 
whatever might be the object of his research, of how many 
questions in how many sciences would these facts contribute to 
the solution ? Again, supposing it to be ascertained also at 
these stations what is the temperature of the air, and of the 
water, as it falls from the sky, and as it is held in the reservoirs 
of the earth, these are data of the same kind, interesting not 
only to meteorological science, but to the philosophy of organ¬ 
ized and animated existence. Yet, extensive as may be the 
importance of such facts, and simple as are the processes for 
ascertaining them, and numerous as are the individuals capable 
of contributing to their investigation, how little nevertheless 
even of this preliminary work has yet been accomplished, either 
by insulated observers, or by those who are associated together 
for the express purpose of advancing the sciences to which it is 
of such essential interest. 
None of our Societies has ever pretended to collect observa¬ 
tions of this kind on a regular system, nor to form a national 
catalogue of the scattered particulars of any one science accu¬ 
rately detailed; and yet the great value which would attach 
to such collections, when reduced and analyzed, must often 
have occurred to the enlightened conductors of such institu¬ 
tions. But that which has prevented any single Society from 
venturing on the undertaking, has been the impracticability of 
carrying it on over so extensive a territory as an entire kingdom. 
There is a method however, by which the object might be 
achieved. Were there in every county one or more provincial 
Societies, having some Members competent to superintend, and 
others ready to execute the observations within definite limits, 
and were these Societies willing; to work together on a common 
plan, the natural history of the country, and all the geogra¬ 
phical data of philosophy, might easily be collected in a manner 
far more perfect than has ever yet been attempted. 
