PBEFACE. IX 



There are catalogues, analytical descriptions, dic- 

 tionaries and other mere tools of a student, that are 

 no more intended to be read than a scaffolding is in- 

 tended to serve as the tower whose fine architecture 

 it helps to rear ; these do not require literary inter- 

 est to add to their usefulness, yet suffer no harm by 

 any chance attractivenes that it may be possible to put 

 upon them. But when it is sought to make every 

 book of natural history either a dry, technical tome 

 of reference, forbidding in style of expression and 

 in typographical appearance, or else to make it suf- 

 fer under the stigma of being untrustworthy simply 

 because attractive to some one beside a closetful of 

 special students, it seems to me time to protest. 

 Give us, say I, the truest, most deeply founded, un- 

 changeable science that can be wrought from Na- 

 ture's storehouse ; but do not deny to us, who are 

 unable to search after the truth for ourselves, some 

 share in the knowledge your better fortune enables 

 you to acquire. Moreover, do not put us off with 

 the plea that we cannot comprehend. What you 



