36 STUDIES IN ANIMAL LIFE. 



into by the worms, and served them at once as food 

 and home.* 



Frogs and parasites, worms and infusoria are 

 these worth the attention of a serious man ? They 

 have a less imposing appearance than planets and 

 asteroids I admit, but they are nearer to us, and ad- 

 mit of being more intimately known, and, because 

 they are thus accessible, they become more import- 

 ant to us. The life that stirs within us is also the 

 life within them. It is for this reason, as I said at 

 the outset, that, although man's noblest study must 

 always be man, there are other studies less noble, 

 yet not therefore ignoble, which must be pursued, 

 even if only with a view to the perfection of the 

 noblest. Many men, and these not always the ig- 

 norant, whose scorn of what they do not under- 

 stand is always ready, despise the labors which do 

 not obviously and directly tend to moral or political 

 advancement. Others there are who, fascinated by 

 the grandeur of Astronomy and Geology, or by the 

 immediate practical results of Physics and Chem- 

 istry, disregard all microscopic research as little bet- 

 ter than dilettante curiosity. But I can not think 

 any serious study is without its serious value to the 

 human race ; and I know that the great problem 

 of Life can never be solved while we are in igno- 

 rance of its simpler forms. Nor can any thing be 

 more unwise than the attempt to limit the sphere 



* VON SIEBOLD : Ueber Band-und-Blasenwurmer. Translated 

 by HUXLET. 



