This series of Science Readers was published for the use of teachers and students. It will be found useful, not only in those schools in which Elementary Science is taken as a class subject, but also for the purposes of an ordinary reader.

Of this series of Science Readers, Books I, II, and III are adapted to pupils who are in their third and fourth years of school work. Both the reading and the subject matter of Books IV, V, and VI are suitable for Senior Grades.

It is hoped that the young readers who follow them through these lessons will catch something of the enthusiasm and earnestness which characterize them as they advance step by step from very small beginnings to a real understanding of the elementary facts of natural science.

The subject matter in this volume is intended for higher level students, and includes not only a more in-depth study of the natural sciences, but also attempts to inform the student as to the connection between scientific advances and economic growth.

At the time of this series' original publication, economic matters were often discussed in British standards; therefore, the student will find that in the later volumes of the Elementary Science Readers, British economics and manufactures are discussed quite frequently. This held true even for the American students who originally used these readers as a textbook to accompany their Elementary Science class studies.

Furthermore, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, hunting, fur-and ivory-trading, and deforestation had become highly developed industries of commerce, to the point where rampant and indiscriminate activities had caused great devastation to the natural world. In modern times, we seek to conserve the natural world, and have put in place protection and preservation laws that are respected and strongly adhered to around the globe; therefore, the reader must approach the lessons dealing with this subject matter with an open mind, and an understanding that this type of activity, while unfortunate, remains a part of history and should be addressed as such.

In spite of some of the inevitable discrepancies between the modern world and the one in which this series was originally published, these science readers remain an excellent source of knowledge of the fundamental facts of the natural sciences, and the enthusiasm and earnestness which characterize these lessons are sure to draw the reader in.