84 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [March 



A society such as ours has to regard Natural Science in its 

 more limited sense. It is only from a few salient points that we 

 can hope to penetrate a field which is not more distinguished by 

 its boundlessness than by its variety. But in its immense variety 

 we discover the more we advance in the study, a prevailing 

 uniformity that speaks of plan and system. And as the astronomer 

 has shown that the slight deviations and perturbations of the 

 spheres in their course are, equally with the regularity of their 

 movements, the result of fixed laws, so the scientific naturalist 

 holds it as one of his highest duties to discover and exhibit the 

 principle governing not merely the uniformity of structure and 

 habits of living nature, but all those deviations from it, that at 

 first sight seem so unaccountable and perplexing. If this be so, 

 then, all persons of all degrees, stations and occupations, should 

 aid in some way or other a Natural History Society. For the 

 scientific naturalist wants facts and results of observations ; and 

 he frequently wants those facts which may appear trivial and 

 unimportant, but which he is able by his powers of generalization 

 to show when connected with other facts already obtained, possess 

 a very great value in connecting what is vague, contradictory or 

 erroneous in his former deductions. And the contributor of 

 these facts need not to be a scientific one. Every one with 

 ordinary powers of observation may make important additions to 

 the stores of scientific knowledge. Some of the most valuable 

 contributions to Natural History have been made by unscientific 

 travellers, who simply but faithfully described what they saw and 

 collected. But we need not go to foreign countries to pursue our 

 investigations; there is quite enough room for them in this 

 Canada of ours. For not to speak of the specially interesting 

 field we have for geological and mineralogical research, there is 

 ample scope for observation and enquiry into the structure and 

 vital actions of even our lowest plants and animals, not by any 

 means thoroughly investigated ;* and it may be safely promised 

 the dilio-ent collectors among our insects and marine tribes, that 

 their labors will not always remain unrewarded by the discovery 

 of some species hitherto unknown, and thus valuable contributions 

 made to an important department of natural history— the geograph 

 ical distribution of animals. 



The duty of acquiring and imparting knowledge from observa- 

 tion thouo-h a very evident one, inasmuch as it advantages society 

 as well as the individual, is yet one very generally neglected. We 



