n OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SCIENCES 63 



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tory may, I am convinced, take a profound hold 

 upon practical life, — and that is, by its influence 

 over our finer feelings, as the greatest of all sources 

 of that pleasure which is derivable from beauty. 

 I do not pretend that natural-history knowledge, as 

 such, can increase our sense of the beautiful in 

 natural objects. I do not suppose that the dead 

 soul of Peter Bell, of whom the great poet of na- 

 ture savs, — 



A primrose by the river's brim, 

 A yellow primrose was to him, — 

 And it was nothing more, — 



would have been a whit roused from its apathy by 

 the information tliat the primrose is a Dicotyle- 

 donous Exogen, with a monopetalous corolla and 

 central placentation. But I advocate natural- 

 history knowledge from this point of view, because 

 it would lead us to seeh the beauties of natural 

 objects, instead of trusting to chance to force them 

 on our attention. To a person uninstructed in 

 natural history, his country or sea-side stroll is a 

 walk through a gallery fdled with wonderful works 

 of art, nine-tenths of which have their faces turned 

 to the wall. Teach him something of natural 

 history, and you place in his hands a catalogue of 

 those which are worth turninsj round. Surelv our 

 innocent pleasures are not so abundant in this life, 

 that we can afford to despise this or any other 

 source of them. AYe should fear being banished 

 for our neglect to that limbo, where the great 



