May 1, 1S67.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



99 



portions of the building. The objects selected are 

 diatoms, acari, &c, many of them identical in 

 subject with those produced by Dr. Maddox. At 

 present I have been unable to find any exhibits of 

 this kind in the American Court ; but only a 

 portion of the objects here are yet exposed, and 

 photo-micrographs may repose still with other 

 mysteries in the packing-cases. 



Microscopic objects are exhibited in the British 

 section by Mr. Topping and Mr. Norman, of 

 London, Mr. Cole, of Liverpool, and Mr. Webb, 

 of Birmingham ; and in the Erenck department by 

 Messrs. Burgogne and Aliot. These require a more 

 careful survey than I have yet been able to make, 

 before any special objects can be indicated. 

 Messrs. Burgogne's injections attracted much at- 

 tention in 18G2, but the display here is far inferior 

 in number, though probably fully equal in quality. 



The Exhibition catalogue contains, amongst 

 other things which are scarcely possible to find, an 

 intimation that microscopes are exhibited by N. E. 

 Evrard, A. N. Lebrun, J. N. Wentzel, and A. 

 Miraud, of Paris ; by J. J. Van Zelst Zaalberg, of 

 Amsterdam ; E. A. Nobert, of Barth ; S. Merz, of 

 Munich ; J. Cavalleri, of Milan ; as well as micro- 

 scopical preparations by J. Nacovich, of Padua, 

 P. Marchi, of Elorence, and E. Oehl, of Pavia. 

 Time will, perhaps, reveal all. 



Messrs. H. and W. Crouch and M. Pillischer 

 have microscopes exhibited in the British section, 

 but these are too well known to our readers to need 

 description. 



It does not enter into my province to* discuss the 

 system of classification which the Imperial Com- 

 mission has established, or to indicate how here 

 a country and there a country has a classification of 

 its own, — how vainly some have struggled to follow 

 out the indicated arrangement, and how others 

 have apparently despised it, and consequently how 

 exceedingly difficult it is to find anything which 

 may be required, especially in some groups, though 

 it was prophesied that it would be so easy to find 

 everything, that all former exhibitions would, on 

 this point, be left far behind. Alas ! that all the 

 prophets should have prophesied so falsely; for 

 some of the juries cannot determine, in many 

 cases, whether certain goods belong to their class 

 or to anybody else's, and the same natural products 

 in one or two instances are referred to three 

 different classes. 



There is certainly much to amuse, and there are 

 many sources of instruction in the Exhibition of 

 1867 ; and when everything is in its place, it will 

 undoubtedly, as a whole, prove a superior exhibition 

 of what is excellent in Science and Art to any of 

 its predecessors ; and it may be added withal that it 

 deserves the honour of being the ugliest and best 

 abused of all the great collective fairs of the present 

 century. M. C. C. 



SOMETHING TO DO. 



" He would pore by the hour 

 O'er a weed or a flower, 

 Or the Slugs that come crawling out after a shower ; 

 Blackbeetles and Bumble-Bees, Bluebottle Flies, 

 And Moths were of no small account in his eyes ; 

 An ' Industrious Flea ' he'd by no means despise, 

 While an ' Old Daddy Long-legs,' whose ' long legs ' and 



thighs 

 Pass'd the common in shape, or in colour, or size, 

 He was wont to consider an absolute prize ; 

 Nay, a Hornet or Wasp he could scarce ' keep his paws off ' 

 —he 



Gave up, in short, 

 Both business and sport. 

 And abandon'd himself, tout entier, to Philosophy." 



Ingoldsby. 



OIB THOMAS THE GOOD, made famous by 

 ^ Ingoldsby, must indeed have been a model 

 Naturalist. His tastes, as described in the above 

 passage, were very comprehensive ; and his observa- 

 tions must have embodied the fruits of long and. 

 careful study. It is quite clear that he could not 

 have been a mere collector. None but a true Natu- 

 ralist, and a patient one withal, would "pore by the 

 hour o'er a weed or a flower ; " and we shall find 

 much in his example that we shall do well to 

 imitate, although we may hope that his sad fate 

 will not befall us. 



Nature is now beginning to awake from her 

 winter sleep. The Botanist hails with delight the 

 Violet and the Primrose, the Pilewort aud the 

 Marsh Marigold, bright forerunners of the floral 

 train which another month will unfold to our view ; 

 the Entomologist, when he sees the gay Brimstone 

 Butterfly on the wing, instinctively gets his net in 

 order, and prepares for " the pleasures of the 

 chase ; " and the followers of every branch of 

 Natural History feel that it is indeed time to be 

 " up and doing." It is delightful to a Naturalist to 

 learn that every year witnesses an increase in the 

 number of Nature's votaries, that each returning 

 spring gives a fresh impetus to the desire of be- 

 coming better acquainted with the wonders of 

 creation. And surely he must indeed be apathetic 

 who can wander on a genuine spring day through 

 lane, field, or wood without really feeling, as well as 

 seeing, the general awakening of all around, without 

 feeling that simply to live, is in itself a wondrous 

 pleasure. 



As in a former paper we attempted to show what 

 might be done in the way of " Winter Work," so 

 will we now hint at a few of the ways in which 

 novices in Natural History may learn to appreciate 

 the wonders contained in the fast-unfolding pages 

 of the great book of Nature spread over the 

 world. 



One very common error into which such people 

 are liable to fall is to be found in the idea that they 

 can begin in the middle, as it were, and thus make 



