EDITOR'S PREFACE. THERE are few observant minds to whom the pursuit of knowledge does not bring that pleasure which seems to be the certain concomitant of honest inquiry; but there are some so constituted that they even feel a greater pleasure in communicating to others the knowledge they may possess. To few does this seem to have been a more imperious matter of necessity than to the author of the present volume, who, whenever a truth flashed on his mind, or any new discovery struck him, hastened to communicate it orally to his friends, and to publish it to the world in any of the newspapers or periodicals whose purpose it suited to open their columns to receive it. Another characteristic that will account for much in the present volume, was that fervid detestation of anything savouring of imposture or oppression, which all good and ardent minds must feel, but which few have ever felt more strongly than he did; and, in consequence, no sooner did any instance of this occur within the circle of his knowledge, and more particularly, of quackery or delusion, if connected with his profession, than he instantly seized his pen to attack and expose it; but, in like manner, he sought to do so only in the fleeting publications of the day, and, having disburthened his mind of his indignation, he left the matter to the public, believing that all were as earnest and sincere in the search after truth as himself, and that it only required that it should be pointed out, in order that all might believe and practise it, never reflecting that the |