which we are obliged to admit in him when viewed as a naturalist, we are bound to regard him as one of the most meritorious of the Roman writers, and among those most worthy to be reckoned in the number of the classics who wrote after the reign of Augustus.” CONTENTS. OF THE FIRST VOLUME. BOOK I. DEDICATION. Page C. Plinius Secundus to his friend Titus Vespasian 1 BOOK II. AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD AND THE ELEMENTS. CHAP. 1. Whether the world be finite, and whether there be more than one world 13 2. Of the form of the world 16 3. Of its nature; whence the name is derived _ib._ 4. Of the elements and the planets 18 5. Of God 20 6. Of the nature of the stars; of the motion of the planets 25 7. Of the eclipses of the moon and the sun 34 8. Of the magnitude of the stars 35 9. An account of the observations that have been made on the heavens by different individuals 36 10. On the recurrence of the eclipses of the sun and the moon 38 11. Of the motion of the moon 40 12. Of the motions of the planets and the general laws of their aspects _ib._ 13. Why the same stars appear at some times more lofty and at other times more near 42 14. Why the same stars have different motions 47 15. General laws of the planets 48 16. The reason why the stars are of different colours 49 17. Of the motion of the sun and the cause of the irregularity of the days 50 18. Why thunder is ascribed to Jupiter 51 19. Of the distances of the stars 52 20. Of the harmony of the stars _ib._ 21. Of the dimensions of the world 53 22. Of the stars which appear suddenly, or of comets 55 23. Their nature, situation, and species 56 24. The doctrine of Hipparchus about the stars 59 25. Examples from history of celestial prodigies; _Faces_, _Lampades_, and _Bolides_ _ib._ 26. _Trabes Cælestes_; _Chasma Cæli_ 60 27. Of the colours of the sky and of celestial flame _ib._ 28. Of celestial coronæ 61 29. Of sudden circles 62