SELECTIONS FROM THE WORKS OF THE BARON DE HUMBOLDT, RELATING TO THE CLIMATE, INHABITANTS, PRODUCTIONS, AND MINES OF MEXICO. WITH NOTES BY JOHN TAYLOR, Esq. TREASURER TO THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, ETC. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1824. INTRODUCTION. THE object of this work is to present in a condensed form some of the information which is displayed at large in two celebrated works* of M. le Baron de Humboldt. This peculiarly gifted traveller, after traversing countries whose future importance to Europe his discriminating foresight enabled him to predict, gave to the world descriptions of these vast territories, which, while they astonish us by the extent of research, and the varied science they display, are rendered even more valuable by the accurate truth and the candid and manly spirit which pervade them. To those who may now for the first time be * Political Essay on the Kingdom of Mexico or New Spain; and Geognostical Essay on the Superposition of Rocks. a |