21 



having some definite object in view. We must strive to get 

 beyond that often-quoted Peter Bell to v^^hoin 



" A primrose by the river's brim, 

 A yellow primrose was to him, 

 And it was nothing more " 



— an unfortunate individual whom we as naturalists must 

 regard as a type of the blissfully ignorant. In science igno- 

 rance is not bliss, and no advance will be made if we rest 

 contented with ''it was nothing more." Nature is one — 

 her votaries are many — but how few are her prophets ! 

 There is no natural phenomenon, however apparently in- 

 significant, which does not appeal to us — there is not a 

 pebble on our hill tops that does not incessantly cry out to 

 us with a hundred tongues to read and learn. Surely to the 

 naturalist of all others is it given to find — 



" Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in everything." 



