It will be seen that a liberal education has its uses, even under
circumstances the least likely to foster the social amenities, and
that, too, not only as regards the mental well-being of its
possessors, but also as regards augmenting their material comforts.
In the _Swiss Family Robinson_ the resources of Natural History have
been largely, and perhaps somewhat freely, drawn upon. This branch of
knowledge has, therefore, been left throughout the present volume
comparatively untouched. Nevertheless, as it is the aim of the
narrator to combine instruction with amusement, the more elementary
phenomena of the Physical Sciences have been blended with the current
of the story--thus garnishing, as it were, the dry, hard facts of
Owen, Liebig, and Arago, with the more attractive, groupings of life
and action.
The reader has, consequently, in hand a _melange_ of the useful and
agreeable--a little for the grave and a little for the gay--so that,
should our endeavors to impart instruction prove unavailing, _en
revanche_ we may, perhaps, be more successful in our efforts to amuse.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Colony--Reflections on the Past--Ideas of Willis the Pilot--Sophia
Wolston
CHAPTER II.
To what extent Willis the Pilot had Ideas on certain Subjects--The
Knights of the Ocean
CHAPTER III.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25