PREFACE 



At the beginning of this little work it should 

 be noted that it was originally the basis of a 

 series of discourses delivered in the course of 

 several evenings in the winter of 1903-4 at 

 the Institute of Popular Natural Science In 

 Berlin, the Urania (a credtion of the gifted 

 M. Wilhelm Meyer), and accompanied on the 

 stage with decorative pictures and illustrations. 

 The rich stage settings that were executed in 

 the most effective and artistic manner, accord- 

 ing to my suggestions by the well known and 

 excellent artists of the Urania, Kranz & 

 Harder, and that were the objects of warm gen- 

 eral approbation, must naturally have strength- 

 ened the interest and made the text proper 

 appear as explanatory of the visible pic- 

 ture and which without these pictures could not 

 have been presented. Nevertheless, the wish 

 has often been expressed to me, that the text 

 might be printed. I have attempted to pre- 

 serve the greater part of the composition, but 

 all that was difficult to work out well In print, 

 all that could by any possibility not be clear 

 without the help of the illustrations, but that 

 might appear fantastic, I have simply thrown 

 overboard and put it Into more suitable form. 

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