The chapter opens with a speech by Jack Stanton, a professor at the Miskaton university in Germany. He dedicates the book to his mentor and colleague, Professor Alexander Kandel, who is the driving force of the expedition to the Galapagos. He laments the fact that he has made a mistake in conceiving of such a monster as the Galapagos, but Stanton assures him that they must go right now. He tells the audience that he was once a friend of Alexander's and that he is honored to pay his respects to him. He then launches into a lengthy speech about the book he has just published, ante genesem, or pre-genesis. It is a radical re-examination of the way in which we perceive history, of humanity, and of its civilizations. The chapter ends with a soliloquy by Jack, in which he reveals that he had just received a recording from a lunatic who begged him not to publish the book and to stop publishing his stories.