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Show THOR' PREFACE TO TIIF. Tm: twofold aim of the present work (a carefully prepared and executed attempt to enhance the enjoyment of Nature by animated de: ription aud at the same time to increase in proportion to thQ state of knowledge at the time the reader's insight into the harmonious and concurrent action of different powers and forces of Nature) was pointed out by me nearly half a century ago in the Preface to the First Edition. In so doing, I alluded to the various obstacles hich oppose a succes ful treatment of the subject in the manner des\,uned. The combination of a literary and of a purely scientific object-the endeavor at once to interest and occupy the imagination, and to enrich the mind with new ideas by the augmentation of knowledge- renders the due arrangement of the separate parts, and the desired unity of composition, difficult of attainment. Yet, notwithstanding these disadvantages, the public have long regarded my imperfectly executed undertaking with friendly partiality. The second edition of the '' Ansichten der Natur" was prepared by me in Paris in 1826; and at the same time two fresh treatises were added-one an Essay on the Structure and Mode of Action of Y olcanos in different regions of the earth; and the other on the :cvital Power," bearing the title "Lebenskraft: oder der rhodische Genius." During my long stay at Jena, Schiller, in the recollection of his youthful medical studies, loved to converse with me on physiological subjects; and the considerations in which I was then engaged on the muscular and nervous fibres when excited by con- |