51 
the useful purpose which it might require a change of circumstances 
to make us more thoroughly appreciate. 
It remains before I conclude, that I should say a word re- 
specting the Society before which I have the honour of appearing. 
And it seems to me that this Society is one which perhaps, more 
than any other, claims our sympathy in this respect—that it is in 
the best sense of the word the most democratic. Its pursuits are 
those upon which all men engage on equal terms, for to all men 
alike is the Book of Nature open, and the results are to those whose 
observation is the most intelligent, and whose patience is the most 
enduring. I will not take up time with any observations which 
might be rather trite on the humanizing and the elevating effect of 
all study of the work of the Creator, but I cannot but feel that the 
man who follows the denizens of the field and of the wood into 
their haunts, and makes a study of the economy of their daily lives, 
diversified as these are with many a curious and interesting trait, 
will have, more than other men, something of a kindly sympathy 
with all God’s creatures, and will realize more than other men the 
words of the Poet— 
‘* He prayeth best who loveth best 
All things, both great and small,” 
