15 



transformed and beautified, not, of course, objectively, but sub- 

 jectively. It is an e-duratinn in the sense of the derivation of the 

 word, that is in the sense of Iradimi out the faculties to perceive 

 and observe. 



A lesson or two in the art of mixing colour on the palette 

 will give a wonderful appreciation of hue in Nature and in Art, 

 and in like manner a few well-directed hints of a scientific man 

 give to the less instructed a line of direction in which he may 

 pursue his own researches with much profit. 



So the lecture to which we listened a few months ago by 

 Mr. Enoch has invested the aphides of my garden with a 

 romantic interest which my gardener scarcely appreciates. 



With such education in Natural History a charm is given 

 to a country walk which is indescribable. Sit on a hillside or a 

 wayside bank, and peer into the mazes of grass and herb, and 

 you are translated into another world, teeming with life into the 

 concerns of which you seem to be able in measure to enter. The 

 vagaries of a single ant will keep your attention occupied for 

 half-an-hour, especially if you have had an introduction to the 

 manners and customs of his kind through Lubbock's book. 

 Then a bee appears upon the scene, and a fresh line of thought 

 is started, or a spider commences his web-building operations and 

 again diverts your admiration. 



So much of real pleasure can be thus experienced by simple 

 observation, that one hesitates to refer to specimen collecting 

 which, after all, if not systematically done is of very doubtful 

 advantage. To most of us amateurs the days of collecting are 

 past, though probably with us all there has been a phase of our 

 experience when we were possessed with a passionate desire to 

 collect everything that pleased us. It was with something of 

 the motive, and had something, too, of the melancholy result, 

 which is said to have prompted the Afridis when they killed a 

 descendant of the Prophet in order that they might worship at 

 his tomb. But of course a collection without system and proper 

 classification and nomenclature becomes simply a mass of mere 

 rubbish, which it is a sorrow to possess. And after all, with 

 good museums so accessible, there seems but little need to 

 attempt to collect such objects as may better be seen in them. 

 And to the naturalist, however limited his studies, the museum 

 ceases to be a " valley of dry bones," for he finds that when Science 

 prophesies, as in the vision of old, these dry bones can live. 



But I feel I must not further weary you in pursuing the 

 subject of the endless vistas which open up to seeking minds in 

 the region of scientific investigation. Very much might be said 

 as to what foreign travel presents to such, not simply as a matter 

 of " tours " and " trips," but as veritable explorations and voyages 

 of discovery, but time will not allow. 



Thus the true lover of Nature need never be dull, because 

 for him there is always at hand a feast satisfying alike to the 



