224 GLAUCUS ; OR, 
modestly refrained from telling anybody what they 
were doing so well. And it was this very discovery 
of unsuspected microscopists which made me more 
desirous than ever to see—as I see now in many 
places—scientific societies, by means of which the 
few, who otherwise would work apart, may com- 
municate their knowledge to each other, and to the 
many. These “ Microscopic,” “ Naturalist,” “Geo- 
logical,” or other societies, and the “Field Clubs” 
for excursions into the country, which are usually 
connected with them, form a most pleasant and 
hopeful new feature in English Society; bringing 
together, as they do, almost all ranks, all shades of 
opinion; and it has given me deep pleasure to see, in 
the case at least of the Country Clubs with which I 
am acquainted, the clergy of the Church of England 
taking an active, and often a leading, interest in 
their practical work. The town clergy are, for the 
most part, too utterly overworked to follow the 
example of their country brethren. But I have 
reason to know that they regard such societies, and 
Natural History in general, with no unfriendly eyes ; 
