NEW WORKS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 167 



pleasures and recreations should have a contrary character, and 

 cultivate those powers of his mind- that are untouched by his busi- 

 ness avocations ; in order that he may see all things on both sides 

 and in their true light. 



" There is no employment for leisure hours, whether they be the 

 few of the man of business or the many of the man of no business, 

 more innocent in itself or more productive of benefits than the 

 pursuit of Natural History generally ; and Entomology, or the 

 Natural History of Insects, on account of the number, beauty and 

 accessibility of its objects, has peculiar advantages as a means of 

 popular recreation. Once begun, ennui and the want of something 

 to do vanish, every step is on enchanted ground, and on all sides the 

 prospect becomes more and more enticing. The inducement to go 

 out of doors, — the walk with a purpose in view, — so different to 

 that most dreary of all employments, walking for the sake of exer- 

 cise, — is itself no mean advantage. Then the collector wants to 

 know something about the nature of the insects he has acquired, 

 and begins to study their habits, forms and relationships. This 

 calls into exercise the practice of patience, of minuteness and ac- 

 curacy of observation, and eventually of cautiousness in induction 

 and generalization ; all of which, besides their value as elements of 

 mental discipline, are qualities serviceable in an eminent degree in 

 the business of life. Bonnet has said, l when I see an insect 

 Avorking at the construction of a nest or a cocoon, I am impressed 

 with respect, because it seems to me that I am at a spectacle where 

 the supreme artist is hid behind the curtain.' Who can view such 

 scenes continually without forgetfulness of self, and having his 

 thoughts carried upwards, and becoming not only a wiser but a 

 better man ? 



" Contrast with such an employment of leisure, the way in which 

 the majority of young men spend their spare hours, — dissipation, 

 frivolous amusements, or the ephemeral literature of the day,— and 

 who can be surprised that the result, so far as regards the culti- 

 vation of the individuals, is nil, the balance being on the other bide. 

 There is a minority of young men, I know, that do better than this, 

 yet, without any desire to undervalue literature or art, — nay, with 

 every inclination to reverence and appreciate genius of every kind, 

 whether showing the power of mind over mind, or the power of 

 mind over matter, — I still believe that man and hi- doings, his 

 follies and his crimes, engage too much of our attention. And if 

 we go beyond the circle of human sympathy, I fear we are too prone 

 to be passive; we like knowledge to come to us secondhand — 

 filtered through other men's brains; and we take their conclusions 

 — the truth as it appeared to them — to be the whole truth. But no 



