FewofthosewhofindpleasureinfrequentingbookstorescanhavefailedtocomeacrossoneormoreoftheprofuselyillustratedvolumesinwhichM。LouisFiguierhassoughttorenderdryscienceentertainingtothemultitude。Andofthosewhomayhavecasuallyturnedovertheirpages，thereareprobablynone，competenttoformanopinion，whohavenotspeedilyperceivedthatthesepretentiousbooksbelongtotheclassofpestsandunmitigatednuisancesinliterature。Antiquatedviews，utterlackofcomprehensionofthesubjectstreated，andshamelessunscrupulousnessastoaccuracyofstatement，arefaultsbutillatonedforbysensationalpicturesofthe“dragonsoftheprimethattareeachotherintheirslime，“oroftheNewton-likebrowandsilkencurlsofthatprimitivemanincontrastwithwhomthesaiddragonshavebeenlikenedto“mellowmusic。“
Nevertheless，thesortofscientificreputationwhichthesediscreditableperformanceshavegainedforM。Figuieramonganuncriticalpublicissuchastojustifyusindevotingafewparagraphstoabook[13]which，onitsownmerits，isunworthyofanynoticewhatever。“TheTo-morrowofDeath“——ifoneweretoputhistrustinthetranslator’sprefatorynote——discussesagravequestionupon“purelyscientificmethods。“Wearegladtoseethisremark，becauseitshowswhatnotionsmaybeentertainedbypersonsofaverageintelligencewithreferenceto“scientificmethods。“Those——andtheyaremany——whovaguelythinkthatscienceissomethingdifferentfromcommon-sense，andthatanybookisscientificwhichtalksaboutperiheliaandasymptotesandcetacea，willfindtheirvaguenotionsherewellcorroborated。
Quitedifferentwillbetheimpressionmadeuponthose——andtheyareyettoofew——whohavelearnedthatthemethodofscienceisthecommon-sensemethodofcautiouslyweighingevidenceandwithholdingjudgmentwhereevidenceisnotforthcoming。Iftalkingaboutremoteanddifficultsubjectssufficetomakeonescientific，thenisM。Figuierscientifictoaquiteterribledegree。Hewritesaboutthestarryheavensasifhehadbeenpresentatthehourofcreation，orhadatleastaccompaniedtheArabianprophetonhisfamousnight-journey。Norishisknowledgeofphysiologyandotherabstrusesciencesatalllessremarkable。
Butthesethingswillceasetosurpriseuswhenwelearnthesources，hithertosuspectedonlyinmythology，fromwhichfavouredmortalscanobtainaknowledgeofwhatisgoingonoutsideofourplanet。
[13]TheTo-morrowofDeath；or，TheFutureLifeaccordingtoScience。ByLouisFiguier。TranslatedfromtheFrenchbyS。R。