viii PREFACE 



habit of reading the scientific contributions to magazines 

 and newspapers is responsible in no small measure for the 

 present-day quick acceptance of applications of pure re- 

 search, and that it has also contributed greatly to the 

 development of workers who apply the discoveries of 

 science, and of business men who promote such applications. 

 We have selected articles which will whet the taste for 

 knowledge without giving rise to unbalanced and unscien- 

 tific ideas; which will contribute to contemplative habits 

 of reading, and thereby help to develop that culture, 

 efficiency, and capacity for productive thinking which wins 

 success in any field. We have endeavored, particularly, 

 to choose articles which are suggestive, which will broaden 

 the reader's outlook on science by showing him the interre- 

 lations of its different branches, and which will impress 

 upon him the advantage such a broad view gives in the 

 solution of the problems of the business and professional 

 man. The papers contain the information which permits 

 them to be readily understood; they are popular in style, 

 that is, they possess ' ' human interest, ' ' and some have even 

 a "once-upon-a-time" flavor; yet they are all of a scientific 

 and dignified character. 



We wish to express our thanks to the authors and original 

 publishers for permission to republish the articles; like- 

 wise to the publishers of the New International Encyclo- 

 paedia, for permission to include some of the excellent 

 chemical articles contained therein. We shall feel under 

 obligations to any one who calls our attention to suitable 

 papers not now included. 



Later volumes will be devoted to other branches of 

 science, and a bibliographical volume will contain interest- 

 ing and inspiring sketches of the lives and work of some 

 of the men who have either added to the stock of human 

 knowledge or who have applied it to human needs. 



R. M. BIRD. 



University of Virginia, 

 January, 1911. 



