Excerpt from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip, Vol. 24: An Illustrated Medium of Interchange and Gossip for Students and Lovers of NatureTwenty-Four years have elapsed since this Magazine was founded by the genial publisher whose name it still bears. It is a long life for so popular a serial as Science-Gossip, but has there been any flagging in its vitality? Many honoured names, both in amateur and professional science, have helped to build up its worldwide reputation. It has been the ladder by which many distinguished men have climbed to fame. Scores of others who have helped our Magazine have passed away. Though they rest from their labours, their works follow them, and not a few of their articles are sought out in back volumes for the wisdom and experience they generously placed at the service of the public, and especially at that of the young naturalists who were to succeed them.In spite of the little bickerings and breezes we experience, even in scientific circles - the accumulated heritage from ancestors who knew not science - is there a single profession or calling in which men are so willing to help each other as in natural science? Our columns bear evidence to the prompt readiness with which young beginners, and even more advanced students, obtain assistance as soon as they ask for it.The spheres of science are ever widening, like those of a disturbed lake. There is little fear the function of Science-Gossip will die out for lack of fresh information. Every new discovery opens out fresh vistas, and calls forth additional comment and criticism. We claim that, from the popular point of view, our twenty-four volumes give as complete and even a more continuous History of recent Science than can be found anywhere else.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis 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.