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to, and understood by all those concerned. Repetition is also in lieu of emphasis, o stress laid upon any event or any danger.

If, then, by repeating existing evils, a secret and hidden causes, the attention o the unwary shall be called to them, so as avoid danger, infinite good will follow.

It must also be remembered that the me propensities, and animal passions of man interwoven together, that it is sometime actions to detect the impulses, or nomina which he is incited or induced to act; and under a combination of influences so hidde to baffle the most acute observation and pr

An abstract or theoretical dissertation, h logical, will not expose his dark and lurki can only be done by a careful scrutiny up unguarded developments. His craft and and refined that this precaution is neces He must be watched in the first impulse of puberty and maturity, through all the exig It cannot be done by hypothesis, genera reasoning.

It must be done by the exposure of physiological demonstrations made upon th the heart and the nerves.

The mode adopted for the treatment of fore by chapters, under appropriate titles in indicate with graphic accuracy the moral a his motives, impulses, and actions.

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NOTE TO THE READER.

The cases and examples employed by way of illustration are faithful representations of events and circumstances which have really occurred, unaided by embellishment or fiction. They furnish an imperfect glimpse at the revolving kaleidoscope of man's cunning devices and mysterious ways.

While, for ages past, the popular arts and sciences, those which minister to the passions and cupidity of mankind, have been elaborately investigated and successfully explored, the illimitable and infinite occult mysteries of human nature, a thorough knowledge of which is so intimately essential to man's social safety and moral elevation, have nowhere been made the subject of a distinct philosophical disquisition.

This undeniable omission of scientific research has left open and almost wholly unexplored a chasm in the dark mysteries of human nature, the neglect to examine into and penetrate which has come from a cowardly fear of self-exposure, or the egotism of self-sufficiency, self-knowledge, and self-complacency.

No pretensions are here affected of a systematic analysis or scientific exposition of "The Philosophy of Human Nature.” Its magnitude and importance require the research and learning of ages; all that is here attempted is to put down faithfully a few suggestions, observations, and developments, the result of the close experience of one man's life of sixty years, which may serve perhaps as a beacon-light for the young, and an incentive to the aged for their contributions to a work which shall successfully solve the dark and wonderful problems of the human heart.

FRANCIS E. BREWSTER.

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