jQuery.preloadImages = function()
{
  for(var i = 0; i<arguments.length; i++)
  {
    jQuery("<img>").attr("src", arguments[i]);
  }
}

$.preloadImages("image1.gif", "/path/to/image2.png",
"some/image3.jpg");

$(document).ready(function(){

  var col1pos = $('#galleryCol1').position(); 
  var col2pos = $('#galleryCol2').position(); 
  var col3pos = $('#galleryCol3').position(); 

  $('#galleryCol1').css({position: 'absolute',left: col1pos.left,width:'600px',zindex:'1'});
  $('#galleryCol2').css({position: 'absolute',left: col1pos.left+302,width:'600px',zindex:'2'}); 
  $('#galleryCol3').css({position: 'absolute',left: col1pos.left+604,width:'600px',zindex:'3'});
  $('#galleryCol4').css({position: 'absolute',left: col1pos.left+906,width:'1000px',zindex:'4',display: 'block'});       

  $('#galleryCol1').mouseover(function() {
    $('#galleryCol2').stop().animate({left: col2pos.left+150},{duration: 500});
    $('#galleryCol3').stop().animate({left: col3pos.left+75},{duration: 500});
  });

  $('#galleryCol2').mouseover(function() {
    $('#galleryCol2').stop().animate({left: col2pos.left-75},{duration: 500});
    $('#galleryCol3').stop().animate({left: col3pos.left+75},{duration: 500});
  });

  $('#galleryCol3').mouseover(function() {
    $('#galleryCol2').stop().animate({left: col2pos.left-75},{duration: 500});
    $('#galleryCol3').stop().animate({left: col3pos.left-150},{duration: 500});
  });

});