PREFACE
TO
THE FIRST EDITION.
Having found that children could be interested in the history of life upon the Earth, and that it appealed forcibly to their understanding, I considered that a little book upon the subject might give them the taste for more extended study in after years. The difficulty of treating the, to them, novel conclusions of geology, often founded on abstract reasoning, in language simple in form yet stating clearly the great principles upon which this reasoning rests, will probably be apparent on every page. Breadth, rather than minuteness, has been aimed at, in the belief that a general view, not overcrowded with details, is likely to be the most impressive. Thus, in the geological part the leading features of the succession of strata have been preserved, but no details of systematic classification entered into. Similarly, Primeval Man is considered mainly with reference to gradual progress from a rude to a more civilized condition. To have been more explicit, where there is still much difference of opinion, would have obscured the main facts of the evidence for man’s great antiquity.
The illustrations are typical examples of the three arbitrary but convenient divisions of the history of life—the vegetable, the animal, and the human—such as will be most readily met with in museums. Slight as this sketch is, the liking for it shown by some intelligent children, who saw it in manuscript, encouraged me to believe that there are many others to whom it might prove interesting.
Some acquaintance with the leading facts in science is daily becoming more necessary to those who aspire to liberal culture, and instruction in them is a recognised feature in the curriculum of some public and leading private schools. Thus, it is hoped that the present volume may to some extent serve as a text-book without the severity of such a form. The best English and foreign authorities have been consulted, and other trustworthy sources—as papers read before scientific societies—drawn upon, bringing the information down to the latest time. Though these pages are designed for young persons, other readers, perhaps, who are not familiar with the subject, may find some interest in them if they are not deterred by the necessarily simple style.
My thanks are due to Mr. H. B. Woodward, of the Geological Survey of England and Wales, for some valuable suggestions made during the progress of the work.
A. N.
Hampstead: November 1876.