in all works embracing so great a variety of subjects. This particular trait, however, need not be considered objectionable, since all who may desire to read more extensively on any particular subject, can easily obtain works which are exclusively devoted to it.

Prolix descriptions of machinery and of mechanical operations have been studiously avoided; for it has been presumed, that all who might have perseverance enough to read such details, would feel curiosity sufficient to visit the shops and manufactories, and see the machines and operations themselves. Nevertheless, enough has been said, in all cases, to give a general idea of the business, and to guide in the researches of those who may wish to obtain information by the impressive method of actual inspection.

A great proportion of the whole work is occupied in recounting historical facts, connected with the invention and progress of the arts. The author was induced to pay especial attention to this branch of history, from the consideration, that it furnishes very clear indications of the real state of society in past ages, as well as at the present time, and also that it would supply the reader with data, by which he might, in some measure, determine the vast capabilities of man.

This kind of historical information will be especially beneficial to the youthful mind, by inducing a habit of investigation and antiquarian research. In addition to this, a knowledge of the origin and progress of the various employments which are in active operation all around, will throw upon the busy world an aspect exceedingly interesting.

It may be well, however, to caution the reader against expecting too much information of this kind, in regard to most of the trades practised in very ancient times. Many of the most useful inventions were effected, before any permanent means of record had been devised; and, in after ages, among the Greeks and Romans, the useful arts were practised almost exclusively by slaves. The latter circumstance led to their general neglect by the writers among these distinguished people.

The information which may be obtained from this work, especially when accompanied by the inspection of the operations which it describes, may be daily applied to some useful purpose. It will be particularly valuable in furnishing subjects for conversation, and in preventing the mind from continuing in, or from sinking into, a state of indifference in regard to the busy scenes of this world.

In the composition of this work, all puerile expressions have been avoided, not only because they would be offensive to adult individuals of taste, but because they are at least useless, if not positively injurious, to younger persons. What parent of reflection would suffer his children to peruse a book calculated to induce or confirm a manner of speaking or writing, which he would not have them use after having arrived to manhood? Every sentence may be rendered perfectly plain by appropriate explanations and illustrations.

No formal classification of the professions and trades has been adopted, although those articles which treat of kindred subjects have been placed near each other, and in that order which seemed to be the most natural. The paragraphs of the several articles have been numbered for the especial accommodation of classes in schools, but this particular feature of the work need meet with no serious objection from miscellaneous readers, as it has no other effect, in reference to its use by them, than to give it the aspect of a school-book.

While writing the articles on the different subjects, the author consulted several works which embraced the arts and sciences generally, as well as many which were more circumscribed in their objects. He, however, relied more upon them for historical facts than for a knowledge of the operations and processes which he had occasion to detail. For this he depended, as far as practicable, upon his own personal researches, although in the employment of appropriate phraseology, he acknowledges his obligations to predecessors.

With the preceding remarks, the author submits his work to the public, in the confident expectation, that the subjects which it embraces, that the care which has been taken in its composition, and that the skill of the artists employed in its embellishment, will secure to it an abundant and liberal patronage.

THE AGRICULTURIST.

1. Agriculture embraces, in its broad application, whatever relates to the cultivation of the fields, with the view of producing food for man and those animals which he may have brought into a state of domestication.

2. If we carry our observations so far back as to reach the antediluvian history of the earth, we shall find, from the authority of Scripture, that the cultivation of the soil was the first employment of man, after his expulsion from the garden of Eden, when he was commanded to till the ground from which he had been taken. We shall also learn from the same source of information, that "Cain was a husbandman," and that "Abel was a keeper of sheep." Hence it may be inferred, that Adam instructed his sons in the art of husbandry; and that they, in turn, communicated the knowledge to their posterity, together with the superadded information which had resulted from their own experience. Improvement in this art was probably thenceforth progressive, until the overwhelming catastrophe of the flood.

3. After the waters had retired from the face of the earth, Noah resorted to husbandry, as the certain means of procuring the necessaries and comforts of life. The art of cultivating the soil was uninterruptedly preserved in many branches of the great family of Noah; but, in others, it was at length entirely lost. In the latter case, the people, having sunk into a state of barbarism, depended for subsistence on the natural productions of the earth, and on such animals as they could contrive to capture by hunting and fishing. Many of these degenerate tribes did not emerge from this condition for several succeeding ages; while others have not done so to the present day.

4. Notwithstanding the great antiquity of agriculture, the husbandmen, for several centuries immediately succeeding the deluge, seem to have been but little acquainted with any proper method of restoring fertility to exhausted soils; for we find them frequently changing their residence, as their flocks and herds required fresh pasturage, or as their tillage land became unproductive. As men, however, became more numerous, and as their flocks increased, this practice became inconvenient and, in some cases, impracticable. They were, therefore, compelled, by degrees, to confine their flocks and herds, and their farming operations, to lands of more narrow and specified limits.

5. The Chaldeans were probably the people who first adopted the important measure of retaining perpetual possession of the soil which they had cultivated; and, consequently, were among the first who became skilful in agriculture. But all the great nations of antiquity held this art in the highest estimation, and usually attributed its invention to superhuman agency. The Egyptians even worshipped the image of the ox in gratitude for the services of the living animal in the labours of the field.

6. The reader of ancient history can form some idea of the extent to which this art was cultivated in those days, from the warlike operations of different nations; for, from no other source, could the great armies