EXCELSIOR:

HELPS TO PROGRESS

IN

RELIGION, SCIENCE, AND LITERATURE.

"The shades of night were falling fast,
As through an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device,

Excelsior!"

LONGFELLOW.

VOL. I.

WHOL

LONDON:

JAMES NISBET AND CO. BERNERS STREET.

1854.

LONDON:

Printed by G. BARCLAY, Castle St. Leicester Sq.

APR &-1937

Roscoe A. Barnes

918107

JUN 3 0 1955

AP · E961

VERY gratefully do the projectors of this series acknowledge the kindness with which it has been received; and, through the assistance promised by friends eminent in literature and science, they confidently hope that future volumes may win a still larger share of public favour.

At the end of the third year, when the work is completed, it is intended to give a classified index of the subjects discussed, together with the names of the principal contributors.

In the meanwhile, it may be right to mention, for the information of those whom it concerns, that, although some of the articles are written by foreigners, they are

all copyright, and have all been prepared expressly for the pages of "Excelsior."

June 1, 1854.