96
BY SIR R.S. BALL.

RAIN AND SNOW 342
BY JOHN TYNDALL.

THE ORGANIC WORLD 357
BY ST. GEORGE MIVART.

INHABITANTS OF MY POOL 366
BY ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 387

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY
READING. 389

NOTE.

The publishers' acknowledgments are due to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin &
Co., for permission to use "America and the Old World," by L. Agassiz;
to Messrs. D.C. Heath & Co. for permission to use "Some Records of the
Rocks," by Professor N.S. Shaler; and to Professor E.S. Holden for
permission to use "What is Evolution?" and "An Astronomer's Voyage to
Fairy Land."

LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS

A GEYSER. _Frontispiece, See Page_ 47

VIEW IN A CANON _Face Page_ 12

A VOLCANO 48

A STALAGMITE CAVE 116

WHERE SPONGES GROW 208

A COMET 254

THE SPECTRE OF THE BROCKEN 272

AND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE
TEXT.

THE MARVELS OF NATURE

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 t