(articulation of sounds) is controlled by the intellect, the product and manifestation of which is language. In the special part all numerical results, the most minute, as in “_Laplace’s_ Exposition du Systéme du Monde.” As these particulars do not admit the same literary perfection of style as the general combinations of natural science, the simple facts are stated in short sentences, arranged in tabular order. The attentive reader will find condensed in a few pages all results on climate, magnetism of the earth, etc., which it would take years of application to learn by study. The intimate relations of the fundamental details, for the sake of literary harmony with the general plan, are effected by brief introductory remarks to each chapter. Otfried Mueller, in his ably written “Archæology,” has very successfully pursued the same method. It was my wish that you, my dear friend, should get a clear perception of my undertaking from myself. I have not succeeded in concentrating the whole in one single volume, however magnificent the effect of such conciseness would have been. I hope, however, that two volumes will contain the whole. There will be no notes under the text, but at the end there will be notes appended, containing solid erudition, and minuteness of detail; these, however, may be left unread. The work is not what is commonly called “_Physical Description of the Earth_.” It comprises heaven and earth—everything existing. I began to write it fifteen years ago in French, and called it “_Essai sur la Physique du Monde_.” In Germany I thought first of calling it “_The Book of Nature_;” a title already adopted in the middle age by Albertus Magnus. But all this is too vague. The title shall be _“Kosmos,” Sketch of a Physical Description of the World, by A. v. H., enlarged outlines of his Lectures in 1827 and 1828_. Cotta, Publisher.