The great, urgent, universal wants of mankind, in all classes of society, are food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. After these come the comforts and luxuries pertaining to the condition of those in easy circumstances. Above and beyond these animal wants, but of nearly equal importance, are those relating to the mind--written and printed matter, oral instructions, as lectures and sermons, and the handiwork of the fine arts. These, in addition to health, freedom, and friends, comprise the greatest blessings man enjoys. I would add that the means of transit are necessary to make him entirely independent. Nearly all honest occupations are founded on these wants; but they have been divided and subdivided until their name is legion. The contents of this volume might be arranged in the same way that the articles exhibited in the Crystal Palace of London were, under the heads--Producer, Importer, Manufacturer, Designer, Inventor, and Proprietor. But we think the arrangement pursued, though rather irregular, may be quite as convenient. So great is the variety of subjects treated, that it is difficult to condense the contents in a smaller compass. The general difference in character and habits of those engaged in various occupations--their comparative morality and intelligence, the effects of a decline in wages, the effects of trades-unions, are all, more or less, involved in this subject of employments; also the opinions of the working classes on machinery and its results. Employments that have for their object the health, comfort, and protection of mankind--those that produce the necessaries and the luxuries of life--those for amusement and capable of being dispensed with--are all treated of to some extent. Numbers of women have been lost to society from the want of a systematic organization for their employment, and by a deficiency in the number of remunerative pursuits open to them. The destinies of thousands are daily perilled, mentally, morally, and physically, by the same cause. The disease has raised a great and turbulent cry; but, strange to say, few means, and they limited and inefficient, have been used as a cure. Indeed, a remedy has scarcely been devised. To open new and suitable occupations to women, and secure for them fair wages, would, I believe, be an effectual mode of relief. But to bring about a favorable change, not only must more occupations be opened to women, but, as Mr. Walker says, "employments of an equally indispensable character with those of the other sex." Many persons would be surprised to find the large number of people employed in such occupations as pertain only to civilized life--such as could be dispensed with in an emergency; and the small number employed in such occupations as really furnish us with the necessaries of life. In the first class, aside from those engaged in domestic duties and labors, the majority of women are employed.