166 



STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



Recently you did me the honour of inserting a letter of mine, and 

 you encourage me to pursue my endeavour to wm the attention of your 

 readers to the subject of Natural History. 



In a charming volume* which Her iMajesty has caused to be pubHshed, 

 and copies of which have been presented by H.R.H. Prince Albert to 

 nearly all the public institutions in the United Kingdom, I find the 

 following impressive remark : — 



•' Our object in examining the stone, the rock, the lichen, the moss, 

 the flower, the fruit, the insect, the bird, or the quadruped, is to exer- 

 cise our faculties by learning how beautifully, and with what wisdom 

 all things have been constructed, how wonderfully they are formed with 

 relation to each other, and how manifestly they display a power of 

 which we could form no conception were we not to attend to its working 

 as exhibited by them. It is true, we cannot fully comprehend the 

 complicated relations of the most common objects, much less understand 

 the ordination of the universe, or even of our own world; but we labour 

 in hope, we are studying — some of us, no doubt, very imperfectly, 

 others, more profoundly — the works of the Deity, and the more progress 

 we make, the more we glorify Him by an intelligent, not a vague 

 admiration. 



" There are some who aim at the knowledge of general laws, more 

 who seek simple facts. Both parties will find enough to engage their 

 faculties, and neither will do the work of the other efficiently. There 

 is no reason why one should despise the other ; contempt of anything 

 but vice indicates an unsound mind, a defective judgment, an ignorance 

 of the relations which men have to each other and to their Creator, an 

 undue self-estimation, and a contempt of the rights of other men. He 

 who measures the orbit of a comet has not, therefore, higher faculties 

 than he who examines the cytoblast of a fungus, and there is far more 

 to be seen by us in a beetle than in a planet — upon that granite 

 mountain opposite, at the distance of nine or ten miles, than in the sun, 

 the moon, and the stars." 



Words feeble as mine are may not be added to the above eloquent 

 passage until next month; therefore I conclude, and will then endeavour 

 to stimulate the industry of your readers in the acquisition of knowledge 

 which will be to them a never-failing source of innocent gratification. 



C. E. 



Balk. 



SONERILA MARGARATACEA. 

 This is unquestionably one of the most handsome variegated plants in 

 cultivation; for, although its prettily marked foliage may not be so striking 

 or beautiful as that of some of the Anaectochiluses, Marantas, &c. ; the 

 beauty of these is confined to their foliage, while this is one of the freest 

 blooming stove plants which we possess, and it would certainly be diffi- 



• " The Natural History of Dee-side and Braemar." By the late William Macgilliyray, 

 M.D. Printed for private circulation. 



