6 ON THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
I believe the love of created works to be inherent in the human 
mind—that if is not so much an acquired love as one that will 
spring up involuntarily; we have it in us naturally ; it may lie a 
long time dormant, but when some flower of spring, or animated 
‘thing of beauty” shall appear, at a moment perhaps when the 
heart is peculiarly open to its influence, it will implant itself in 
our memories, and become a ‘‘joy for ever.”” Few indeed are 
they, who, having once set foot within the porches of the great 
palace of nature turn round and retrace their steps. And the 
farther they advance the greater is their wonder and delight— 
the more keen is their sense of enjoyment. When Linnzvs, after 
years of study, came to England, and for the first time in his life 
saw the yellow gorse in flower, he fell on his knees, and thanked 
God for the sight. No one can understand this who has not dis- 
covered a rare plant or seen some beautiful animal for the first 
time, that he has long wished to find. 
Just as in childhood, as the years—nay, as the weeks—roll by, 
we make fresh discoveries in the world around us, feel ourselves 
growing wiser—feel an expansive power at work within us, pro- 
duced by the very objects which that power enables us to appre- 
ciate—so do we, in maturer years, among the domains of nature, 
feel sources of new pleasures ever opening to us, and we make 
continually new discoveries. The things which delighted us in 
childhood, yield us little delight in manhood—then 
‘‘ Earth, and every common sight, 
To us did seem 
Apparelled in celestial light, 
The glory and the freshness of a dream.’” 
But a sort of wearisome familiarity began to cling to them, 
‘* Shades of the prison-house begin to close 
on the growin a 
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows, 
He sees it in his joy ; 
The youth who daily from the East 
Must travel, still is nature’s priest, 
And by the vision splendid 
Is on his way attended ; 
At length the man perceives it die away, 
And fade into the light of common day.” 
So, says the poet, is it with the ordinary experiences of life. If 
it could be shown then, that there was any one subject of study, 
which, beyond all others, and with less trouble, could afford us a 
