BOOKS OF SECRETS. ^ 



of thousand at the outside, and even that number would have been 

 reduced, had I adhered to my original intention. I certainly began the 

 survey, over thirty years ago, with an attempted restriction of the lists to 

 books specifically labelled "secrets." But it was almost immediately 

 apparent that the limitation was artificial and impossible to enforce, that 

 consideration of the mere title must be discarded and the inquiry based 

 on the broader foundation of the theme. So from the very first were 

 included books of receipts in general, even though not designated 

 "secrets." 



From these, however, have been deliberately omitted books on 

 gardening, cookery, occult science, and old chemistry.' These truly are 

 all books of receipts and are replete with secrets, but they have been often 

 dealt with and I have had no desire to compete with the lists already 

 published, when there are extensive subjects for investigation to which no 

 attention has been paid. 



Again, while there are many books of receipts which are not styled 

 "secrets," there are also books of "secrets" which contain no receipts. 

 These have been included in virtue of their name rather than of their 

 contents, it may be thought unduly. They profess to reveal some obscure 

 or unknown matter which does not necessarily entail any practical 

 application or result. The term is especially applied to natural phenomena. 

 Natural History as it might be called now, but then, the secrets, wonders 

 or marvels of Nature. The contemplation of these marvels was very like 

 what it is with the ordinary man now. The daily routine of Nature passes 

 without remark ; no one, for instance, is conscious of what Father Beccaria 

 called "the mild and slow electricity which prevails in the atmosphere 

 during serene weather," but when anything out of the common happens, 

 a tempest, a flood, a snowstorm, an earthquake, thunder and lightning, 



(l) Nevertheless circumstances have again been too strong for me, and have com- 

 pelled me to admit some books on these topics, because they were in the company of 

 others which fell within my prescribed area, or were written by authors of whose works 

 it w;is an object of mine to make as complete an enumeration as possible. 



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