Excerpt from Popular Lectures on the Science and Art, Vol. 1 of 2: Delivered in the Principal Cities and Towns of the United States IN presenting to the American public the collection of sci entific miscellanies which forms the contents of these volumes, it may be [proper to explain the circumstances which gave occasion to them in their original form of oral discourses, the character of the audiences to which they were addressed, and of the readers to whose information and amusement it is hoped they may contribute in their present more permanent state. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.