AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



One of the objects of the Useful-Knowledge Society of tlie 

 canton of NeufcMtel is to advance popular education by means 

 of public lectures, wliich are delivered during the winter, not 

 merely in Neufchatel — the chief town — but also in the in- 

 dustrious Jura, in Lode, Ghaux-de-fonds, and the valley of 

 Travers, as well as in the villages on the wine-producing slopes 

 of the lake, in all which places they are attended by intelligent 

 and attentive audiences. Natural science, the history of Switzer- 

 land, pohtical economy, and social life, are the chief subjects 

 treated of. In localities where spacious rooms cannot be ob- 

 tained, the use of the church is readily granted ; nor has it 

 occurred to any one to consider this a desecration any more 

 than the Icelander objects to the stranger finding a night's 

 shelter in the church. The success of this Useful-Knowledge 

 Society, it is true, only dates from the period when Neuf- 

 chatel, having ceased to be a Prussian principality, became a 

 canton of the Swiss Confederation. It is very probable that, in 

 that happy period when a Prussian general, with a few knights 

 of the red eagle governed the country, the lamentations of 

 those, who condemn every result of science which does not 

 agree with the ancient Jewish lawbook, would have prevailed 

 and suppressed this society. 



The invitation of the Society to dehver some lectures on 

 subjects at present engaging my attention, induced me to give 

 to my investigations the present form. The subject-matter is 

 connected with those studies which, though with many interrup- 

 tions, I have continued since the time of the struggles to which 

 Kohlerglanhe und Wisscnschaff^ owes its origin. I cannot deny 



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Superstition and Science, it. controversial work by tlio author, which has 

 passed through foui- editions in Germany. — Editok. 



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