BY EDWARD S. HOLDEN, M.A., Sc.D. LL.D.


The Earth, the Sea, the Sky, and their wonders--these are the themes
of this volume. The volume is so small, and the theme so vast! Men
have lived on the earth for hundreds of the sands of years; and its
wonders have increased, not diminished, with their experience.

To our barbarous ancestors of centuries ago, all was mystery--the
thunder, the rainbow, the growing corn, the ocean, the stars.
Gradually and by slow steps they learned to house themselves in trees,
in caves, in huts, in houses; to find a sure supply of food; to
provide a stock of serviceable clothing. The arts of life were born;
tools were invented; the priceless boon of fire was received; tribes
and clans united for defence; some measure of security and comfort was
attained.

With security and comfort came leisure; and the mind of early Man
began curiously to inquire the meaning of the mysteries with which he
was surrounded. That curious inquiry was the birth of Science. Art was
born when some far-away ancestor, in an idle hour, scratched on a
bone the drawing of two of his reindeer fighting, or carved on the
walls of his cave the image of the mammoth that he had but lately
slain with his spear and arrows.

In a mind that is completely ignorant there is no wonder. Wonder is
the child of knowledge--of partial and imperfect knowledge, to be
sure, but still, of knowledge. The very first step in Science is to
make an inventory of external Nature (and by and by of the faculties