There could not be a greater contrast than exists between these two productions. Offenbach's work is avowedly a creation of the fancy; mine is a collection of strictly historical and scientific facts. Offenbach wrote his opera merely for the purpose of entertaining the tired and blasè Parisians of his day, and to help cheer them up for the morning after.

One of the purposes of my book is to put into plain and simple language some of the latest, up-to-date teachings of science respecting the habits and intelligence of animals, and also to describe some of the many new facts that have recently come to light regarding the earth upon which we live-its age, its present condition, its traveling companions, especially its relation to the infinite number of other worlds that within the last year or two have been discovered. The historical sketches about such national characters as Uncle Sam, Eugene Field, Steinmetz and Sousa I hope will not be devoid of interest.