From the author's Introduction:

"[I]t must gladden the hearts of all true students to see that some little interest is at last being taken by European writers in the beautiful philosophy of Nature preached by the founder of Taoism; the study of which, I make bold to add, cannot fail to yield rich stores of pleasure to everyone who takes it up, be he scholar, dilettante, or divine."

Author - Frederic H. Balfour