16 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



uu important, but by one who considers Nature's 

 workings as the manifestations of Divine energy, no 

 such terms can be appHed to these studies ; and, even 

 to those who think that they can dispense with a 

 Creator, and who see in matter itself something which 

 has existed from all eternity and is sufficiently potent 

 to produce life and all its accompanying phenomena, 

 the study of that matter in its living forms, even in 

 those of the lower organisms, cannot be otherwise than 

 productive of good ; and to those who look for beauty 

 merely, and who would find in Nature that perfection 

 and symmetry which they fail to find in art, the study 

 of these animals with their varied and often highly 

 coloured forms, and with their richly chased cells and 

 structures, must be gratifying and attractive. 



In " Glaucus,'' the late Canon Kingsley says, " The 

 research which has been bestowed upon these unnoticed 

 atomies has well repaid itself; for from no branch of 

 physical science has more been learned of the scientia 

 scientiarum, the priceless art of learning. No branch 

 of science has helped so much to sweep away that 

 sensuous idolatry of mere size, which tempts man 

 to admire and respect objects in proportion to tha 

 number of feet and inches which they occupy in 

 space." 



To the microscopist the Zoophytes present a field 

 for study and observation of unlimited extent. So 

 many questions of importance remain to be answered, 

 so many life-histories to be worked out, that no one 

 who enters upon this study can complain of dearth of 

 material to work upon. On every sea-shore their 

 beautiful skeletons may be picked up, and the living 

 forms may be readily obtained by dredging ; and when 



