6 PREFACE. 



tory work ; but the volume is in nowise intended to 

 take the place of a text-book. 



An outline of the plan was submitted to Professor 

 Huxley, and it received bis -entire approval. The whole 

 scientific part of the work, except the butterfly chapter, 

 is based upon the information I received at Professor 

 Huxley's class-lectures in South Kensington Science 

 Schools. 



The drawings, as well as the criticism of the scien- 

 tific text, are the work of Miss Macomish, a prize 

 pupil of Professor Huxley, and a science-teacher in the 

 London schools. 



If the book, whose only inspiration is the spirit of 

 my childhood, answers some of the questions in the 

 minds of the boys and girls who chance to read it, and 

 suggests many more than it answers, I shall be glad the 

 spirit came back to me, and shall ask it to come again. 



Sarah Hackett Stevenson. 



Chicago, 1874. 



