IB L 343 

 Ha-? 



PREFACE. 



Many imperfections, as I anticipated, have been discovered in my 

 " Popular Faith Unveiled," some of importance and others of little 

 consequence ; and many suggestions have been offered in all kindness 

 by those who have done me the honour of reading 1 my work, for con- 

 sideration in case I should issue another edition. The strongest of all 

 the arguments urged in favour of the real necessity for a second and 

 revised edition is that that part of the subject treated upon which re- 

 lated more particularly to the true origin of man was not dealt with in 

 a sufficiently exhaustive manner in the last work. This, of course, is 

 a true charge : but it should be borne in mind that the main object of 

 the book was to expose the real nature of the popular superstition, and 

 not to trace out the pedigree of man ; and, moreover, to have entered 

 fully into such subjects as the evolution of mind and matter would 

 have considerably augmented the bulk of the work, and consequently 

 have necessitated such an increase in the price as to have made it pro- 

 hibitory to a large number of thinkers, who have not too much spare 

 cash to throw away. I therefore determined not to re-issue the work 

 in an amplified form, but to supplement it with a number of published 

 lectures (delivered here and in various other large towns) and articles, 

 which should be ultimately brought out as an illustrated volume. 



