vi A PAETING WORD. 



Possibly the little already known may enable us to see further into the darkness 

 of the future, and to assist at events which are not \ et. Possibly we may succeed 

 in contemplating in thought the spectacle of human history beyond tbe evil days 

 of strife and ignorance, and there again heboid the picture of grandeur and beauty 

 already unfolded by the earth. 



Here is what I would fain study accorrling to tbe measure of my strength. 

 From the myriad facts which I have had to record from chapter to chapter I 

 ■would fain extract a general idea, and thus, in a small volume written at leisure, 

 justify the long series of books now ended without apparent conclusion. 



Elisée Pectus. 



