HAVING
AVING brought the first volume of this Journal to a conclu-
sion, the Editors take this opportunity again to call the attention
of the public to their undertaking. They are more than ever
convinced of the importance of their plan and of the extent
to which, if properly conducted, it is capable of being made.
useful. The scientific labours of European philosophers are
made known to the world from so many different quarters, their
productions are spread over so wide a surface, are scattered
among so great a number of Journals and volumes of Transac-
tions, and the valuable are so connected and mingled with the
worthless, that it is very difficult for individuals in America,
except under uncommon advantages, to get a complete view
of the progress of science and the arts. The expense of im-
portation is so great that few persons can consistently afford to
procure for their own use even one of the foreign Journals.
It is only in public libraries, Atheneums, &c. that complete
series of them are to be looked for, and it is unnecessary to say,
how small a proportion of the reading population have either
leisure or opportunity to avail themselves of establishments of
this nature.
The principal object of the Editors has been to present in
their publication, whatever was useful or interesting among the
contents of the European periodical works, either in the lan-
guage of the authors themselves, or in a more condensed and
abridged form in their own. But as they have wished to make
it as complete a record as possible of the state of science in
America as well as in Europe, they have by no means confined
themselves to selections from foreign works. The pages of
this volume will be found to contain a very considerable num-
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