OBSEKVATIOISr OF NATUKE. 11 



Observation of Nature. 



In these pages it is my aim to stimulate, not to satisfy, curiosity, 

 and it is no part of my object to save my readers the labor of ob- 

 servation or of thought. For labor is hfe, and 



Death lives where power lives unused.* 



Self is the schoohnaster whose lessons are best worth his wages ; 

 and since the subject I am considering has not yet become a branch 

 of formal instruction, those whom it may interest can, fortunately, 

 have no pedagogue but themselves. To the natural philosopher, 

 the descriptive poet, the painter, the sculptor, and indeed every 

 earnest observer, the power most important to cultivate, and, at 

 the same time, hardest to acquire, is that of seeing what is before 

 him. Sightjs_a faculty ; seeing, an art. The eye is a physical 

 but not a seK-acting apparatus, and in general it sees only what it 

 seeks. Like a mirror, it reflects objects presented to it ; but it 

 may be as insensible as a mirror, and not consciously perceive 

 what it reflects.f 



It has been maintained by high authority, that the natural 

 acuteness of our sensuous faculties can not be heightened by use, 

 and hence, that the minutest details of the image formed on the 

 retina are as perfect in the most untrained as in the most thor- 

 oughly disciphned organ. This may be questioned, and it is 

 agreed on all hands that the power of multifarious perception 

 and rapid discrimination may be immensely increased by well- 

 directed practice.:}: This exercise of the eye I desire to promote, 



• Verses addressed by G. C. t6 Sir Walter Raleigh. — Haklutt, !., p. 668. 



f I troer, at Synets Sands er lagt i Oiet, 



Mens dette kun er Redskab. Synet strftmmer 

 Fra Sjselens Dyb, og Diets fine Nerver 

 Gaae ud fra Hjemens hemmelige Vserksted. 



Henrik Hertz, Kong Belle's Batter, sc. ii. 

 In the material eye, you think, sight lodgeth 1 

 The eye is but an organ. Seeing streameth 

 From the soul's inmost depths. The fine perceptive 

 Nerve springeth from the brain's mysterious workshop. 

 X I have witnessed instances of extraordinary powers of vision in Arabs of 

 the Desert, and in seamen, but I have not had an opportunity of testing how 

 far this acuteness of sight was due to practice. In regard to the faculty ot 



