PREFACE 



TO THE GERMAN EDITION. 



Six years have passed since the grave at Renthendorf 

 closed over the remains of my esteemed father, whose death 

 all too early was as great a loss to Science as to those 

 who loved and honoured him. It was strange that his 

 eventful and adventurous life, in the course of which he 

 visited and explored four quarters of the globe, should have 

 ended at the little spot in green Thuringia where he was 

 born. He had just reached his fifty-fifth year when his lips, 

 so apt in speech, were silenced, and the pen which he held so 

 masterfully dropped from his hand. He was full of great plans 

 as to various works, and it is much to be regretted that the 

 notes which he had collected towards the realization of these 

 were too fragmentary for anyone but their author to utilize. 

 But the manuscripts which he left contained many a treasure, 

 and it seemed to me a duty, both to the author and to all 

 friends of thoughtful observation, to make these available to 

 the reading public. 



The following pages form the first book of the kind, and 

 contain the most valuable part of the legacy Alfred Edmund 

 Brehm's lectures, once so universally popular. I believe that, 

 in giving these pages to the world, I am offering a gift which 

 will be warmly welcomed, and I need add no commendatory 

 words of mine, for they speak adequately for themselves. 

 Writing replaces spoken words very imperfectly, and my 



