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him. Because, although not one in ten thousand may develop 

 into a man of science as a profession, the inestimable ad- 

 vantages of some training in Natural Science which we have 

 alluded to, will be worth having. He may, at any rate, develop 

 into an amateur of science and a lover of Nature to his own 

 profit and pleasure and to others as well. 



If I may be permitted an allusion to my own personal 

 experience, I should like to recall my own schooldays. At that 

 time it was somewhat unusual to introduce the study of Natural 

 History otherwise than in a strictly scientific manner, but with 

 us every encouragement was given to engage in Natural History 

 pursuits in the most practical ways. The efifect has been very 

 noticeable, for although it may be that but very few of my old 

 schoolfellows have attained to anything like distinction, yet to 

 the majority the habits of observation then gained, together with 

 the actual knowledge acquired, have been of incalculable benefit 

 in after years. 



I do not propose to offer any challenge to advocates of 

 athletics, but I have still a vivid recollection of the delights of 

 those Saturday afternoon rambles, the popularity of which was 

 testified to by a depleted football or cricket field. 



In charge of a senior boy, little groups would start off at 

 the earliest moment, well provided with shell scoops, butterfly 

 nets, plant tins, and other naturalists' impcdinimta (to say nothing 

 of exuberant enthusiasm), bound for the various happy hunting 

 grounds within a radius of five miles or more. 0, what treasures 

 did that muddy ditch or stagnant pool yield, in the shape of 

 aquatic coleoptera ; what entomological rarities that treacled 

 tree ; what a botanical Eden was Askham Bog ! 



Then came the excitement of the return home and the 

 discharge of the various spoils in the class-room specially set 

 apart for the purposes of the arrangement and the preserva- 

 tion of specimens. The strange and mingled odour of that 

 place still abides as a vivid memory, and when one day, after 

 aU these years, I encountered a similar complex effluvium, 

 by association the joys of those schoolboy explorations again 

 came vividly before my mind. Nor was it only in collecting 

 that the interest of these boys was manifested ; but I 

 remember the diaries of observations which were compiled, 

 and the exhibition at the end of the term, where the speci- 

 mens, duly arranged and described, were displayed in a manner 

 educational in a high degree. 



In after years for most of us engaged in commercial or 

 professional life the opportunities for pursuing Natural History 

 have become very limited, and one's reading in these lines, dis- 

 cursive and unsystematic, — somewhat of the " Science Sif tings " 

 type, — but with this groundwork laid, it is still possible to keep 

 in touch with the progress of Science and to feel a sympathetic 

 thrill at each advance which is made. 



