BEETLES. 71 



he sacrifice his time and his pecuniary means in 

 these benevolent and truly philanthropic labours, he 

 is without gratitude, or even sympathy, from those 

 he most benefits, living only on the hope and the 

 consciousness that future generations will reward the 

 ingratitude of the present, instead of being, as he 

 deserves, honoured for his self-denying devotion, loved 

 as a friend, and recompensed as a benefactor. Such 

 things may be excused iir the ignorant; but why is 

 it that in our so-called Halls of Learning so little 

 attention is paid to the study of the objects of Nature, 

 to their remarkable properties, and their wonderful 

 organization, to the faculties which distinguish them 

 from all others, to their reciprocal affinities and har- 

 monies, and to the great chain which unites them all? 

 The fact that the study of Nature tends directly 

 to the civilization of a nation, was well understood, 

 more than a century and a half ago, by that ingenious, 

 self-made man, Peter the Great, of Russia. He 

 conceived the idea that a love for this department 

 of science would contribute much towards the civi- 

 lization and refinement of his barbarian subjects, and 

 accordingly he established, at an enormous expense, 

 a large museum of Natural History at St. Petersburg ; 

 and in order to induce his whiskey-loving subjects to 

 go there, he ordered a glass of brandy to be presented 

 to every visitor. 



