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future occasion. And mud) more so is this the case when original 

 descriptions or discoveries have to be recorded for the use of others. A 

 concise style and an accurate use of exact words are then absolutely 

 necessary, and by so much as this is acquired to that extent will the 

 work of any student be useful to science. A necessary part of 

 thorough investigation in anj- branch of Natural History is the forma- 

 tion of a collection by which Sf)8cimens are always on hand for examin- 

 ation, and in no way are the principles I have alluded to better 

 exemplified. In the very collecting of the material the faculty of 

 observation is cultivated and developed, the power to discriminate 

 between species and to appreciate minute differences is attained. 



The specimens when identified must then be carefully and neatly 

 arranged and classified. Now all these are exercises of great use in. 

 j)roperly training a mind to methods of thought which can be easily 

 ap{)lied in any vocation of life when and wherever required. And it is 

 not necessary nor even advisable to carry any of these studies (when 

 used as a training for the mind) to a great length, we cannot all bo 

 Darwins or Lubbocks or Grab's no, the very elements of any branch 

 of science are sufficient as the means for the practice of this intellectual 

 training. 



But in addition to the.se/direct advantages there are also some of a, 

 more general nature to which, for a moment or two longer, I will draw 

 your attention. 



As the great aim in life of all huniau beings is the pursuit of 

 happiness, I would n)ention first the [)leaRure it adds to life. No one 

 who is not acquainted with the common objects of the woods and fields 

 can conceive the keen delight experienced by a naturalist, when after 

 the long imprisonment of our tedious winter, he is able again to go forth 

 into the fields to look for the first appearance of our lovely spring 

 flowers, to see the bursting of the buds and to listen to the call notes 

 of the first birds, sweet hariungers of the happy summer time to come. 

 To such a one all these are old friend.s, and the pleasure of greeting 

 them year by year as they show their faces with beauty always fresh 

 and new is not less than that experienced when we meet human friends 

 from whom we h;ive been separated for a long time, but with whom, 



