Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1836, by CAREY, LEA & BLANCHARD, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

C. Sherman & Co. Printers.

ΤΟ

J. K. MITCHELL, A. B. M. D.

PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY APPLIED TO THE ARTS, IN THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, LECTURER ON MEDICAL CHEMISTRY IN THE PHILADELPHIA MEDICAL INSTITUTE, &c. &c.

MY DEAR SIR,

What is new of the present volumes was dictated, and what already extant, combined and arranged, in the three first weeks of a severe illness which began with the present year, and during which you officiated in the double capacity of friend and physician, with characteristic kindness and ability. As you were the only extern whose presence and conversation the debility of my nerves permitted me to enjoy, and as your cordial solicitude rendered your visits frequent, to my great satisfaction and relief, you are connected intimately in my memory with all the intellectual exercise I was able to take. This association prompts me naturally and irresistibly to dedicate these volumes to you-not as a tribute of intrinsic and peculiar price, but as a memento of our intercourse, and some testimony, however inadequate, of

the impressions of esteem and gratitude which that intercourse and a long antecedent acquaintance have left upon my mind and heart.

A formal dedication usually implies an assumption of importance for the work: in this case it is nothing more than a convenient mode of proclaiming regard for merit and service; and it is quite suitably addressed to you, who have not merely mastered the sciences subsidiary to your profession, but cultivated Letters with taste and success. The maturation of such faculties, acquirements and dispositions, as those which you already possess before you have reached the middle age, cannot fail to assure a most valuable harvest to society and to yourself.

Ever faithfully, yours,

Philadelphia, February 2d, 1836.

R. W.

ADVERTISEMENT.

In the month of December last, the respectable publishers of this book expressed to me a flattering opinion of the articles of practical sentiment and literary reference, which they had from time to time, seen from my pen. They expressed, also, their belief that a selection of them, forming a portable volume or two, would be both useful and acceptable to the country. I readily undertook the task; and task I may well call the particular survey of a fund, which I found at least quintuple what was required for the immediate purpose. The materials which have been collected for the whole series of Didactics, date since 1810 to the present time, and are scattered over a quantity of inedited manuscript, a multitude of articles written for reviews, several pamphlets, and the files of a daily newspaper for fifteen years.

The juxtaposition under one general head, which has been made in various instances in the present volumes, of paragraphs relating to that head, that were before altogether separate, must give additional force and some degree of novelty to the whole. The coherence is sufficient, and the occasional repetition of topics, presented however under different aspects, favourable for my chief purpose.

To be made to think and learn without refreshment for the story appetite, is too great a hardship for some people. Therefore, and in order to relieve the austerity of so many solemn

homilies as these volumes may be thought to contain, I have deemed it well to insert some narratives, and theatrical criticisms-contributions from me to public journals at different times-and illustrative cases, such as those of Caroline of England, Fauntleroy, and others.

Every intelligent reader will perceive that most of the distinct Titles, and not a few of the paragraphs of the Miscellanies are properly and profitably expansive far beyond the dimensions which they have in this publication. To many belong chapters, and to some, volumes, &c. I should have developed and extended them accordingly, if I could have indulged my inclination and studies. I derive consolation from the idea, that the German homœopathy in Medicine is applicable in moral science. There are temperaments to which moral instruction can be administered in small doses alone.

It is a literary and moral service to the American youth, to attract their attention to standard writers of the old school. This is one of my motives for frequent citations; and in my choice of passages for illustrating or enforcing my text, I have always preferred such as appeared to me of intrinsic utility or instructive in themselves. The spirit of pedantry and the ostentation of reading might be indulged in a more imposing way, with a true parade of erudition; but my desire and aim are wholly distinct from all this artifice. Most of the contents relate to American opinions and concerns which yet widely obtain, and to which therefore constant heed is due.

My Political budget is greatly the most copious; it comprises views of essential Republicanism, the Constitution of the Union, the administration of the General Government by the Executive and Congress; the relation of the several States to that Government and to each other, the advantages and abuses of our politi