£904] Nature Study — No. 18. 163 



and that quickly or we shall be without an aid to our imag"ination 

 for enjoyiijg" agfain the pleasures o' the cloud-flecked sky. And as 

 the highest enjoyment is only obtainable when accompanied by 

 knowledge, we may add there is much to be learned from cloud 

 formation and cloud forms, from the utilitarian as well as from 

 the aesthetic standpoint. 



Again, we can live again and enjoy the pleasures of our sum- 

 mer studies and rambles in our photographic records, and thus 

 obliterate in part the severity and the monotony of our long 

 winter. Not that the study of nature must necessarily cease in 

 that cold and snowy season. There are a thousand objects still to 

 interest and instruct us in the forest and by the stream, even 

 when the white mantle lies deep upon the ground. One could 

 easily enlarge upon this phase of Nature Study — one that has as 

 yet received but little attention. 



All knowledge is relative, or practically so. We learn by 

 making comparisons. What more necessary for this than the 

 possession of records ? Of some objects, by their very nature, 

 we can only obtain their image and for this photography is par- 

 ticularly helpful — indeed indispensable. That this fact is now 

 widely recognized we have only to note the wealth of photo- 

 graphic illustrations in all works now published on the Natural 

 sciences. 



But perhaps enough has now been said to awaken an interest 

 in the erstwhile photographer, who years ago may have bought a 

 kodak, pushed the button and let somebody else do the rest. 

 That camera, perhaps, was long ago relegated to the garret. 

 Unfortunately, ihe cheapness ol the instrument and the ease with 

 which a part of the picture making could be done has served, with 

 many, to make the camera little better than a toy and its manip- 

 ulation the merest pastime. Naturally with them the camera has 

 gone the way of the crokinole board and table tennis — it was 

 amusing for a time, but soon became tiresome and' was put aside. 

 No, the camera must be used seriously, if it is to be with us a life 

 work and a life pleasure, and it is very much to be doubted if any 

 subject or study can afford so much of interest and value and plea- 

 sure as the study of Nature in her manifold manifestations. 



And, in conclusion, it may be useful to give a word or two of 



