PREFACE

TO THE

FIRST EDITION.

I submit the following pages for public review with significant hesitation and great modesty original: "diffidence".

The subject is largely unrelated to my usual professional duties original: "avocations". I originally took it up simply as a matter of curiosity, though in my estimation, its importance later grew considerably. However, I am naturally aware of my own lack of the scientific knowledge required to explain original: "elucidate" the specific goal of my current research. Because of this, I have long felt an anxious desire that someone better qualified by their professional career—and more competent in every other respect—had been persuaded to take on the task that has now fallen to me. But see—