2r_' The Ottawa NaturaliSt. 



thought, by which alone plants can be pruijej^^xamined, must 

 necessarily be inculcated, and will prove invalu^ ^Fn any vocation of 

 life. Nor is it essential that the study (to '^^^Tise as a training for 

 the mind) should be carried to any great length *ve cannot all hope to 

 be Darwms, drays or Macouns the elements of the science alone are 

 sufficient as a means for the practice of this training to habits of 

 methodical thought. 



The taking of notes in a neat and systematic way. by which alone 

 the results of examinations and discoveries can be recorded in a manner 

 ready for reference, begets a concise style and an accurate use of exact 

 words; while in the very collecting of material to form an herbarium, 

 the faculty of observation is cultivated and developed; and the power to 

 discriminate between species, thus to appreciate minute differences 

 is obtained. Most important of all things to the botanist are these 

 faculties of observation and comparison. Many persons have a natural 

 acuteness in perceiving details of structure and in generalizing results, 

 while others are very obtuse in such respects. Vet, in all, these powers 

 can be cultivated and strengthened, and herein lies one of the great 

 educational uses of botany, that it trains us to see and to think. 



But in addition to the direct benefits to be gained by the study of 

 botany, there are others of a more general nature, and man's great aim 

 in life being the pursuit of happiness, I would place first the added 

 pleasure it gives to life. To one not trained to an inquisitive appre- 

 ciation of Dame Nature how comparatively few are the beauties she 



displays. 



"A primrose !>y the river's brim 

 A yellow primrose is to him, 

 And it is nothing more." 



Very different is it when he has the slightest knowledge of botany 

 Then, in even the humblest of the vegetable creation, he can note the 

 structure, take cognizance of the relationship borne by the several parts 

 to each other, see the marvellous way in which each organ is adapted 

 to serve a certain end, and in all admire and do homage to that All 

 Wise Being at whose creative fiat all things first were made. 



Last but by no means least of the advantages to be mentioned is, 

 that the pursuit of the science, leading to exercise in the open air, is 



