the volumes of this set, the purpose of whose publishers, editors, and writers has been to accumulate such things in small compass and in crystal clearness, for the use not only of those who, after their school days are over, still wish to keep abreast of the progress of science in all its branches--as everyone should strive to do in this most scientific of all ages--but also for those who have hitherto not had the time, or the opportunity, or perhaps even the desire, to make themselves at home in the house of science. It may be well to add a few words on the interrelation of the different subjects treated in the various volumes of the series. This will suggest to the reader himself the best order in which to take up the reading of the books. Naturally he will desire to obtain both a clear general view of the whole field of science, and also more detailed acquaintance with its special parts, the amount of detail depending upon his particular interest in a subject. For the first purpose the preferable way would be to run first over the brief account that follows in this volume, of the history and development of science in general, and then to take up the simpler and more easily grasped branches. But it should be firmly kept in mind that, fundamentally, science is one, having in all its branches but one aim and object, viz., the ascertainment and demonstration of the exact truth of things as far as human capacities are able to reveal and comprehend such truth, and also but one method of procedure, which is the method of common sense trained to the utmost attainable exactitude in observation and the greatest possible clearness and precision of reasoning. Science properly so-called confines itself to things that are subject to observation by the senses and to verification by repeated observation and experiment, while its reasonings and predictions are based entirely upon the unvarying sequence of the phenomena of nature, as they display themselves before us. Science is just as one and inseparable as life, or as an organic being, and its divisions no more imply lack of unity than do the various organs and limbs of an animal, or a tree, or the different structural parts of a building. Astronomy is not entirely independent of geology, nor geology of botany, nor botany of chemistry, nor any of these of physics, nor physics of electricity and magnetism, nor the last of physiology and medicine. Accordingly the question where to begin in studying science is not one that can be answered in the same way for everybody. But the spirit is the same in all the branches.