THE DAGUERREOTYPE: A MAGAZINE OF FOREIGN LITERATURE AND SCIENCE; COMPILED CHIEFLY FROM THE PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND GERMANY. HUC UNDIQUE GAZA CONGERITUR. 1848. -VOL. II. BOSTON: PUBLISHED BY J. M. WHITTEMORE, 114 WASHINGTON STREET. PREFACE. SIX months have elapsed, and we appear before our readers with the first number of a new volume. We gladly avail ourselves of this opportunity to say a few words respecting ourselves, our success, and our prospects. And first we may remark, that it has been our conscientious aim, and that our unremitting efforts have been put forth, to fulfil the promises which were held out in the introduction to our first volume. We are conscious that we have not accomplished the task as fully as we intended and wished; but we cherish the hope that the increased facilities which new arrangements will afford, and the renewed efforts which we are resolved to make, will render the future numbers of our work more satisfactory to ourselves, and so interesting to our readers as to atone for any defects which they may have remarked. But while we make this confession, we may, on the other hand, be permitted to express an honest pride in the success and encouragement which the Daguerreotype has experienced during the first half year of its existence. By this we do not mean that it has obtained as large a circulation as we wished or expected; on the contrary, the number of our subscribers is far below what we hope shortly to see it: but we mean that it has been kindly received, and has obtained the spontaneous and unsought commendations of those whose education and pursuits best qualify them to pass a sound and unbiassed judgment. It is true that it has been predicted by some of our friends that it is not of a sufficiently popular cast to obtain a very extended circulation; nor do we doubt the truth of this remark. We do not doubt that we might produce a work which would have a tenfold greater sale; but such is not the work which we promised to our subscribers, nor the work which we will ever lay before them. We will do our best to make the Daguerreotype not only instructive, but also entertaining and even amusing; we trust that henceforward it will contain a greater variety of matter, embracing subjects suited to every capacity and every disposition: but we |