CEYLON NATURAL HISTORV SOCIETY. 73 



THE CEYLON NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



By C. T. Symons, B.A. (Oxon.), F.R.G.S. 



"FN a country like Ceylon, where the prosperity of the inhabitants 

 J- depends, not so much upon manufactures, as usually under- 

 stood, but upon the natural products of the land in the way of 

 vegetable produce and minerals, and where practically every person 

 is brought closely in contact with striking natural objects and 

 phenomena, the need for the study of Natural History is self-evident. 

 This statement is meant to apply to the ordinary individual, and does 

 not in any way refer to the organized staff of experts, which must 

 naturally be attached to any properly-conducted industry which 

 depends upon natural products. It is most probable that every one 

 has at some time or other in his Hfe come across some natural object 

 or phenomenon which has puzzled him, and made him wish to 

 know the why and the wherefore of the occurrence. Perhaps he 

 has noticed the coming of some unusual bird into his compound, 

 and would like to know why and whence it has come; perhaps 

 he has been struck by the peculiar growth of plants in some particular 

 district, or the occurrence of certain mineral deposits in certain 

 definite places, and would hke to trace them elsewhere or know 

 why they occur in that particular way; perhaps he has been 

 amazed at the extraordinary numbers of butterflies in particular 

 spots, or at their concerted movements in hundreds and thousands 

 in particular directions at certain times of the year, and would like 

 to trace out the reason of the phenomenon. These and many other 

 instances will probably have occurred to every reader. Nature 

 appears to be always throwing questions in our way, and to be 

 tempting us to find answers to them. Such answers for the 

 individual must be gained in one of two ways. The one alternative 

 is solitary study with the help of books, which, so far as Ceylon 

 natural objects are concerned, are few and far between, and further- 

 more expensive. This method pre-supposes a very strong mind in 

 the observer, who will persevere, in spite of the inevitable difficulties 

 in the way of individual effort. The second alternative is the 

 concerted working of those who have been trained to know, or of 

 those who have been experienced, with those who are anxious to 

 know, so that the accumulated knowledge of the few may be 

 available for the many, and the observations of the many may add 

 to the general stock of knowledge. 



It is with this latter aim in view that the Ceylon Natural History 

 Society has been inaugurated. Its headquarters are at the Colombo 

 Museum. Its rules state that it has as its object the promotion of 



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