HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



COLLECTING AND PEESEEVING. 



No.. I-GEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 



HERE is, perhaps, 

 nothing more bewil- 

 dering to a young 

 student, whose 

 reading has ended 

 in urging him to 

 be a collector, than 

 how he is to go 

 about it. As a 

 rule, as he cannot 

 find exactly what he wants in 

 manuals, and people whom he 

 asks for information are apt 

 to credit him with knowing 

 more than he really does. Por 

 the purpose of aiding young 

 beginners as far as possible, 

 it has been determined to 

 commence a series of articles, 

 from month to month, on 

 " Collecting and Preserving" 

 the various kinds of natural- 

 history objects. It is intended 

 that each shall be written by an 

 able and competent naturalist in each department, 

 so that our young readers may have the benefit of 

 the best advice we can give them ; and where illustra- 

 tions of necessary implements, &c., are required, we 

 purpose to furnish them. The great end of natural- 

 history reading should be the development of a love 

 for the objects dwelt upon, and a desire to know more 

 about them. This can only be brought about by 

 such practical acquaintance as collecting and pre- 

 serving them induces. At the same time we should 

 be sorry to see our young readers degenerate into 

 mere collectors ! It is a great mistake to suppose 

 that because you have a full cabinet of butterflies, 

 moths, or beetles, that, therefore, you are a good 

 entomologist ; or that you may lay claim to a dis- 

 tinguished position as a geologist, on account of 

 drawers-full of fossils and minerals. But this is a 

 No. 8G. 



mistake into which young naturalists frequently 

 fall. We have seen people with decided tastes for 

 these studies, never get beyond the mere collecting. 

 In that case they stand on a par with collectors of 

 postage-stamps. Nor is there much gained, even 

 if you become acquainted witli English, or even 

 Latin, names of natural-history objects. Many 

 people can catalogue them glibly, and never make a 

 slip, and yet they are practically ignorant of the 

 real knowledge which clusters round each ob- 

 ject, and its relation to others. Both Latin and 

 English names are useful and even necessary ; but 

 when you have simply learnt them, and nothing 

 more, how much wiser are you than before ? No, let 

 the learning of names be the alphabet of science — 

 the means by which you can acquire a further 

 knowledge of its mysteries. It would be just as 

 reasonable to set up for a literary man on the strength 

 of accurately knowing the alphabet, as to imagine 

 you are a scientific man the moment you have 

 learned by heart a few scores of Latin names of 

 plants, fossils, or insects ! Let eacli object re- 

 present so much knowledge, to which the very 

 mention of its name will immediately conjure up a 

 crowd of associations, relationships, and intimate 

 acquaintances, and you "will then see what a store 

 of real knowledge may be represented in'a carefuUy- 

 arranged cabinet. 



The heading of the present article will have in. 

 dicated the subject chosen for brief treatment. We 

 shall never forget the influence left by reading such 

 charming and suggestive books as Mantell's "Medals 

 of Creation," many years ago. Our mind had been 

 prepared for the enthusiasm which this little book 

 produced by the perusal of Page's " Introductory 

 Text-book," PhiUips's "Guide to Geology," and 

 several others of a similar character. But we know 

 of none which impels a young student to go into the 

 field and hammer out fossils for himself, like Dr. 

 Mantell's works. It is impossible not to catch the 

 enthusiasm of his nature. The first place we sallied 



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