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Show 16 PREFATORY NOTICE. person must begin observation in his own way, o.r else lose all the pleasure of it, the less of. detail which was mingled with the attempt to exc.Ite the feelino- it seemed to me the better. Followmg my own Jt~dgment on a subject which is so perfectly original that, so far as I l{now, there is not a book or even a page expressly on it, I may be wrong, and may have failed ; but even in that case,. I sha~l not feel so much humbled by absolute fatlu.re I? ~n original attempt, as I should have done at mfenonty in an imitation. The plan which I have adopted has been to throw momentary glances on those port~ons of nature which struck me as capable of reflectmg the greatest breadth and brilliancy oflight; and such as I thought the most likely to induce the reader (and .more especially the young reader) to r~turn ag~m to the subjects, and work out the detruls for h:m~elf. I have studiously avoided system, because It IS to be wished that every one should enter upon the observation of nature unfettered ; and I have also been anxious to steer as clear as possible, not only of hypotheses, but of theories. . . In some places I have called .m the ~1d of numbers ' to estimate causes of action wh.iC h are not generally estimated in that way ; but Immense as some of these numbers may seem, they are all under what the legitimate deductions fi·om the data can bear. At page 76, it is stated. t?at the hand-that is the {lluscular feeling-can divide space to greater nicety than the eye ,; and as that is not in accordance with the common belief, I shall here state my authority. Mr. James Gardner, the geographer~ J ) ) ) ) J ) ) J ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J ) ) ) ) . ) ) ) ) ) ) ) l) ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) l'F,E:.."ATORY NOTICE. 1'7 can rule, blinrlfdded or jn tb,_~ 3arlz:, with .t.h11 natural '' ~ngle. of a l!i~~lond on. hard vtbi+e n•e·~ol, tity-one hnes m the fiftwth part of an inch, and cross them at the same distances, with an additional line each way to complete the number of squares. There are thus 2550 spaces, or 2551 lines in the inch in length, and there are 6,502,500 squares between I I ~he li~es .in the inch. These too are more regular 1~ their Sizes than the majority of people could draw hnes by the eye at, say the fortieth or even the twentieth of an inch. Small as that tactual, or rather muscular, division is, the limit of it is in the instruments ~nd not in th~ feeling ; for if it were possible to obtam any cuttmg substance sufficiently fine, there seems no reason why each of those little spaces should not be equally divided into any num-ber of parts ; so that, if the eye could see the work after it is done, it is probable that the muscular feel-ing could discriminate down to the primary atom. A glance at the table of contents will show the leading subjects, and the order in which they are placed ; but as the book is intended to be one of excitement, and not of reference, the reader must not ~e surp~ised if upon any, or all, of the subjects, the Impre~swn left on his mind is merely the desire of knowmg more. Having said thus much, I leave \the volume to its tate, anxious to meet with commendation, but not unprepared to bear censure, it that shall be the way in which the chances tum. ROBERT MUDIE. GrO'De Cottage, King's Road, Chelsea, November, 1832. "l |