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HAEDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



[May 1, 1867. 



or themselves a " royal road to learning," forget- 

 ting that he who would read must first master the 

 alphabet ; and many, when they find that Nature, 

 too, has an alphabet which all must learn, give up 

 the whole affair in disgust. They won't begin to 

 study Botany, for instance, in the early spring, when 

 the Groundsel and Dead Nettle claim their atten- 

 tion. No : these are not sufficiently " interesting " 

 for them ; they will wait until the spring flowers 

 appear, and then they will set to work. They forget 

 the parable which tells us that he who was made 

 "ruler over many things" was first "faithful in a 

 few things ; " but when every day brings with it a 

 fresh flower, they begin to find this out — they have 

 much more to do than they expected, and so the 

 year is wasted. It is here that we would offer our 

 first hint : the sooner in the year you begin, the 

 better. Gather yourself a January posy — Shepherd's 

 Purse, Groundsel, and Red Dead Nettle ; study 

 well each of these; find out the names of their 

 various parts ; and " when found," as Captain 

 Cuttle says, " make a (mental) note of." If this 

 seems a dry way of commencing, remember that 

 nothing worth knowing was ever learnt without 

 little trouble. You will have made a good begin- 

 ning, and you will therefore stand a chance of perse- 

 vering — not to the end, that is never attained, 

 but to a more perfect degree of the knowledge 

 of the wondrous, though neglected, works of 

 God. 



Novices in Natural History frequently suppose 

 that, in order to become well acquainted with the 

 branch which they have taken up, they must " col- 

 lect;" that bundles of dried plants are necessary to 

 the study of Botany ; a drawer of insects to that of 

 Entomology; and so on. This, too, is a great mistake. 

 We are quite aware that a really good collection of 

 dried plants, brought together by one's self, is both 

 valuable and interesting, particularly when each 

 specimen brings back to one's mind the circum- 

 stances under which it was gathered. But few, 

 comparatively, have sufficient time at their disposal 

 to form a good collection ; and some, thinking that 

 this is essential, give up the study simply on this 

 account. 



Now, a mere collector is, in a Naturalist's eyes, 

 a creature of a very low order indeed : he it is 

 who greedily seizes on every rare bird, plant, or 

 insect, simply that each may be placed in his own 

 "collection;" and then remains content in the 

 knowledge that they are his. Nothing comes amiss 

 to such an one : he is Geologist, Botanist, Entomolo- 

 gist, Ornithologist, all in one. The consequence is, 

 that, being "Jack of all trades," he is "master of 

 none ; " he names his objects, certainly, but look 

 over any one of his collections, and you will scarcely 

 fail to find glaring errors. Such an one had much 

 better turn his attention to Postage Stamps, or Trade 

 Marks, of which he may form a collection which, if 



it does no good, will not, at any rate, destroy Life — 

 that mysterious principle so easy to remove, so 

 impossible to restore. Eor this reason, it is by no 

 means advisable that every incipient Naturalist 

 should be a collector ; at least, he should restrict 

 himself to common objects, so that, should he feel 

 disinclined to pursue the study, he may not have 

 deprived others, more persevering than himself, of 

 their reward. Natural History is not a thing of 

 books, or of preserved specimens; a mere museum, 

 or hortus siccus : no, it is a living study, having its 

 "sermons in stones," its "books in the running 

 brooks." 



And now for a word or two to those who are 

 already professed Naturalists. Have we not a 

 tendency to wander too far abroad in search of 

 objects for our contemplation ? Do we not often 

 find that we are better acquainted with the Botany 

 of a place, two or three miles distant, than we are 

 with that of a mile round our own residence ? Again, 

 have we not too great a desire to obtain rare species ? 

 are not the common ones often neglected ? because 

 "we can get them at anytime" — and is not any 

 time too often no time ? Are we always as careful 

 as we should be, not to take more specimens than 

 we really require of any plant or animal ? — especially 

 the latter — for we may well remember that many, 

 both naturalists and divines, affirm that animals 

 will be sharers with us "in the Land of the 

 Hereafter." 



To those who are not already acquainted with 

 them, let us introduce the advantages of keeping a 

 Kalendar, after the fashion of good old Gilbert 

 White, in which should be recorded the dates of the 

 appearance of birds and butterflies, or the leafing 

 and flowering of plants. We ourselves have kept 

 such a Kalendar for the last eight or nine years, 

 and very interesting we find it. At first, our 

 Kalendar was not only useful, but ornamental — 

 an elaborate (not to say troublesome) arrangement 

 showed, not only the Latin name of the plant, but 

 its English equivalent, the date of its appearance, 

 the locality in which it was gathered, with other 

 particulars ; while the pages were embellished with 

 divers and sundry striking (not to say illegible) 

 headings, in astonishing letters of red, blue, and 

 black ink ! But after a year or two, we gave up 

 this style of thing; first, because the embellish- 

 ments, etc., took up more time than we could 

 conveniently spare ; next, because we found it 

 impossible always to remember on our arrival at 

 home all that we had seen during our walk; 

 and a book 8 in. long by 6£ broad is of an incon- 

 venient size for the pocket. The plan which then 

 suggested itself to us, and which we still follow, 

 was this : a lined MS. book, 8|'in. long by 3f broad, 

 has each page divided into five columns : the first 

 of these is about 1| in. broad, and allows ample 

 space for the Latin name of the [species, while the 



