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of our moths and beetle* i All these things appeal most strongly to the 

 sense of the beautiful which will be found implanted in the breast of by 

 far the greater number of our youth, and which in many cases 

 requires but the smallest encouragement to spring up and develop into 

 what may make of its happy possessor a painter, a sculptor, a natural, 

 ist, who may be conspicuous among his fellow men for the power of 

 depicting whatever is great and beautiful in the domain ol his chosen 

 art. How many an Audubon, Cuvier, Darwin, or Linnaeus, may we 

 have in our very midst, to whom the divine spark which is necessary to 

 kindle into flame the slumbering forces of these youthful minds may be 

 imparted by a chance word of encouragement or of sympathy, and to 

 whom a chance excursion into the domain ot Natural History may 

 prove the starting point upon a career which will bring renown, not 

 only upon himself personally, but upon our country as well 1 If, 

 indeed, no such prominence is reached, the habits of observation thus 

 engendered will prove to be such that the powers of mind will be 

 strengthened very materially, for, whatever pursuit in life may be 

 adopted, it will be found, without a doubt, that the study of Nature in 

 some one of her many forms will tend to make life easier and happier, 

 and will cultivate and refine our ideas ; and not only this, but this 

 study will tend directly to impart breadth and solidity to all 

 our conceptions, to lift us out of the narrow rut into which one is far 

 too prone to be drawn ; to extend the scope of our possibilities, and to 

 make gladder the whole pathway of life. When one thinks of the 

 privileges enjoyed by the instructors of our youth at the present day, in 

 the acquisition of knowledge concerning Nature in all her forms, not 

 only through the medium of the lecture room, but through the agency 

 of text-books, which have increased so rapidly and obtained such an 

 excellence that one finds it almost an impossibility to keep in line with 

 them, we can but hope that those to whom are entrusted the moulding 

 of the minds of our nation will carry out their work on the broadest 

 and noblest plan, and make full use of all the best and choicest methods 

 at their disposal The study of all these things carries us at once 

 into the broad domain of science, and a knowledge of the anatomy of 

 the beetle, or of the habits and life history of one of our most ordinary 

 insects, things which can be picked up anywhere by hundreds, are as 



