Should we appear to take higher ground than becomes us, we find our vindication in the fact, that we have heralded chiefly the doings and the fame of others. The work has indeed borne throughout “the impress” of editorial unity of design, and much that has flowed from one pen, and not a little from the pens of others, has been without a name. The materials for the pile, have however been selected and brought in, chiefly by other hands, and if the monument which has been reared should prove to be “_aere perennius_,” the honor is not the sole property of the architect; those who have quarried, hewn and polished the granite and the marble, are fully entitled to the enduring record of their names already deeply cut into the massy blocks, which themselves have furnished. If a retrospective survey of the labors of thirty years on this occasion has rekindled a degree of enthusiasm, it is a natural result of an examination of all our volumes from the contents of which we have endeavored to make out a summary both of the laborers and their works.... The series of volumes must ever form a work of permanent interest on account of its exhibiting the progress of American science during the long period which it covers. Comparing 1817 with 1847, we mark on this subject a very gratifying change. The cultivators of science in the United States were then few—now they are numerous. Societies and associations of various names, for the cultivation of natural history, have been instituted in very many of our cities and towns, and several of them have been active and efficient in making original observations and forming collections. A summary follows presenting some facts as to the growth of scientific societies and scientific collections in this country during the period involved: Then the striking contrast between 1818 and 1847 in the matter of organized effort toward scientific exploration is discussed, as follows (pp. xvi _et seq._): When we began our Journal, not one of the States had been surveyed in relation to its geology and natural history; now those that have not been explored are few in number. State collections and a United States Museum hold forth many allurements to the young naturalist, as well as to the archaeologist and the student of his own race. The late Exploring Expedition [Wilkes] with the National Institute, has enriched the capital with treasures rarely equalled in any country, and the Smithsonian Institution recently organized at Washington, is about to begin its labors for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men.