44 Insect Archikclure, 



nor encumber himself with much of the jargon and technical- 

 ities of science, before he can be brought, with such a book 

 in his hands, to take an interest and a pleasure in the observ- 

 ance of insects. When we speak of " the jargon of science,^' 

 we beg not to be misunderstood, nor to have it supposed for 

 a moment that we underrate the value and importance of 

 purely scientific works ; quite the contrary ; we readily admit 

 their utility, and the pleasure they afford to such as have 

 already acquired a taste for natural history. Nevertheless 

 we consider them as means, not as ends. P'or ourselves, we 

 could with much satisfaction pore over the scientific pages of 

 a system of entomology or botany, by the hour together. 

 But we much doubt whether the perusal of such systems in 

 the^r5^ instance, be the best way to instil into the mind of a 

 beginner a love for the study of nature. We may be erro- 

 neous in our opinion ; but it does appear to us, that this 

 would be beginning at the wrong end, and adopting a method 

 which, so far from being the most likely to insure success, 

 would, in the majority of cases, have the directly opposite 

 effect of disgusting the student, and deterring him from the 

 pursuit altogether. We feel confident, at least, that very many 

 persons, when put in the right track, are capable of deriving 

 much rational amusement from the study of nature, who yet 

 could never be trained by book-learning to become thorough 

 scientific naturalists. Let but a taste for the subject be once 

 imbibed, and the student will afterwards naturally be led to 

 aim at higher attainments, and seek for further information ; 

 by degrees he will wish to become acquainted in some measure 

 with the nomenclature, arrangement, and classification of the 

 objects he studies, and with the systems to which they have 

 been reduced. It should be remembered, too, that the acqui- 

 sition of a perfect knowledge of scientific entomology or 

 botany would require more time and attention than most men 

 can afford to devote to such pursuits. Eminence in either de- 

 partment demands almost " a whole man." Accordingly the 

 great luminaries in natural history, as in other sciences, are 

 necessarily few in number : " apparent rari — in gurgito vas- 

 to." * We do not regret this circumstance ; our object in re- 

 commending these pursuits not being so much the formation 

 of one or two first-rate naturalists, as of a very large number of 

 observers of nature. In short, we have ourselves found such 

 an inexhaustible fund of rational pleasure in natural history, — 

 we feel so indebted to the pursuit for the recreation it has 

 afforded us, that we cannot but wish to see it become popular 



* " Few, scatter' d, floating on the vast abyss." Trapp's Trans. 



