88 Trn imartinvfi. 



study. What are our arctic and tropic, seasons and tides, tem- 

 peratures and mechanisms but the expression of man's attempts 

 at catching hold of the universal law, of his assimilating as mucli 

 or as little of it as he can to the wants of his own nature 1 



And this one grand medium for the accomplishment of a pro- 

 ductive study of nature, this one faculty without which a Newton 

 or a Humboldt were impossible, with which the humblest of us 

 can add a cubit to the stature of scientific truth, is Observation. 



We can never emphasis this fact too deeply. The ingenious 

 scientist of the middle ages sat in his cell and dreamed out a 

 theory of the universe ; and a pretty brainful of cobwebs he 

 bequeathed to the keener vision of our age. The modern 

 scientist, albeit his ingenuity lacks something of the charm of 

 his predecessor's, begins and holds to the right method through- 

 out his enquiries, and into what hidden regions his microscope 

 and scalpel plunge, not many of us as yet perhaps fully acknow- 

 ledge. 



It is not, liowever, on medireval theories or modern specula- 

 tions that I want to speak to-night ; not to weigh planets or 

 compute the age of the Glacial epoch ; but, with the view of 

 helping fellow-students, novices especially, towards cultivating 

 this faculty of observation, I am going to describe a little of the 

 life that goes on, all unheeded by most of us, close to the ground 

 and amongst the foliage of common plants on any common bit of 

 mother earth. We transport ourselves during the glowing hours 

 of a fair summer's day out of sound and sight of brick and mortar, 

 and choose a strip of hedgerow well feathered with the despised 

 " weeds " which the roadman shovels aside into unsightly heaps. 

 So long as it is not excessively dry, it is pretty much a matter of 

 indifterence what spot we choose. Here, for instance, is a grand 

 clump of the common cow parsnip (Heracleum Sjyhondylium), 

 with its stout bristly stem and handsome leaves. In one of the 

 deep-cloven sinuations of this leaf you will very likely find a tiny 

 land-snail (Zonites nitiduhis), whose glossy house shines with a 

 lustre Aladdin might envy. If you lift the shell, the warmth of 

 your finger will doubtless tempt the little creature to crawl 

 out, when,, with your pocket lens, you note its dark, clear grey 

 tentacles and brown-tinged body ; touch it ever so gently, and in 

 go " horns " and body back into the glossy shell — timid, sensitive 

 little moUusk ! Perhaps at the root of our tall umbelliferous 

 plant a good specimen of a very common but well-marked land- 



