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of the great glaciers which had passed over and along them, and 

 the " scars of Cumberland and Westmoi-eland still showed where 

 the irresistible ice plain had passed along. 



In conclusion, he wished to say a word or two more, parti- 

 cularly with regard to ice. "Were it not so common, how 

 wonderful it would be to see clear liquid water turned to 

 brittle, crystaline, solid ice. But in England, Nature was not 

 seen exerting her crystalising power in all its grandeur. If 

 they wanted the poetry of frost they must go to Russell, Lovell, and 

 to Emerson, and, looking at such forms, they could well understand 

 the beauty that had inspired those American poets. But how was 

 ice built up ? The skatei's, hurrying over the glossy surface, little 

 thought of the wondrous forms of which every portion was built 

 up. Still true to her plan, Nature never varied from the hexegon. 

 Why that necessity so often constrained her. Science could 

 not answer. Often during the frost preceding Christmas 

 he had wished for the aid of the photographer to render permanent 

 the evanescent forms on the windows. Those delicate graceful 

 forms seemed to rival Nature's beauty of leaf and flower. They 

 could think for a moment of the wonderfully complex forces of 

 which they were built up, of the power, at once impelling and 

 restraining, that had drawn such a curve, as with a master's hand, 

 but they could know nothing of Nature's method in her artistic 

 movements. Perchance she would keep the secret always hidden, 

 or perhaps some day Science would throw open the door, and they 

 would see the manipulation of the artist, but at present they could 

 only admire that which was at once nature and art in one. 



Mr. T. W. WoNFOR lectured on " The Life History of an 

 Insect," also illustrated by magic lantern views. 



Strictly speaking, an insect consisted of three separate and 

 distinct parts, head, thorax, and abdomen, and possessed six legs 

 and one or two pairs of wings. The stages through which it passed 

 were described as egg, larva, chrysalis, and perfect insect ; thei'C 

 were exceptions to this general law, but generally the female laid her 

 eggs, either in or on the food plant or animal of the future caterpillar 

 or grub ; in some cases she had an instrument by means of which 

 she pierced the body or substance in which they were placed, and a 

 wonderful instinct came in play, when, through the stem of a plant, 



