1870.J NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 85 



have heard of a pedagogue in a small village, who having joined a 

 crowd anxiously engaged in watching an eclipse of the sun, and 

 who having been asked in deference to his superior learning what 

 was the cause of this extraordinary appearance, replied, ** It is 

 only a phenomenon." The truth seems too evident to repeat that 

 if, when we behold anything extraordinary in nature, we check 

 our instinctive curiosity by saying to ourselves: " It is only a 

 phenomenon ; " we shall not be one step nearer any rational 

 knowledge of the appearance than if we had never observed it. 

 " How many singular phenomena," exclaims the zealous natural- 

 ist, in accents of bitter regret, ^'how many rare and precious 

 fossils have been lost to the world, seen by blind eyes. How many 

 gas lamps might have trembled at sounds before a Lecomte 

 observed under what conditions the ball-room lights responded to 

 the tones of a violoncello." 



But the study of Natural History is not merely valuable 

 as a means of cultivating the powers of observation, but of 

 educating all the faculties of the mind. Advancing as it does 

 from the study of the simple to the analysis of the complex it 

 must necessarily bring into play all those mental powers that men 

 are called upon to exercise in all the engagements of life. " The 

 process by which truth is attained" says Mill, " reasoning and 

 observation, have been carried to their greatest known perfection 

 in the physical sciences." Natural History being concerned 

 rather with the knowledge of things than of words, can lay 

 claim to an exactness which is not the least of its merits. 

 Another of its advantages is, that it supplies us with great 

 ideas of natural law and harmonious adjustment. Finally, 

 it bestows on us a general quickness of perception, for the 

 habits of observation it necessitates, gives to the intellect a 

 superior aptitude of understanding and enjoying the thing 

 observed. 



Were this the occasion to dwell on the utilitarian aspects of the 

 study, we might refer to the countless blessings it has bestowed 

 on man in the shape of all those things essential to his wants and 

 comforts. We might point to an improved agriculture and horti- 

 culture — to the protection of crops from the devastions of insects, 

 to the multiplication of the ores, the coal, the useful and precious 

 stones and metals ; we might poinl to the wondrous triumphs of 

 science applied to the arts ; to the labour-saving processes which 

 enable all to possess so cheaply the comforts and elegancies of life 



