Professor Morgan's Address 149 



through lack of guidance and the need of a stimulating 

 influence. For them short courses of well-illustrated 

 lectures, even without direct contact with natural 

 objects, may be of no little service. They may there 

 be told what to observe, how to observe, or how to 

 extend the observations they have already made. 

 They may gain information as to how and when 

 suitable material for examination and study may be 

 obtained. Their interest in nature may be stimulated 

 and their eyes may thus be opened, so that they may 

 see what they have passed a thousand times unnoticed 

 and unperceived ; for not all that falls on the retina is 

 seen, and there is no quickener of the mental vision 

 to be compared in its efficacy to genuine interest. 

 Fortunate, indeed, will they be if they catch from the 

 lecturer some sparks of the enthusiasm which gives 

 freshness and charm to what the mere dullard might 

 call trivial and commonplace matters. But they must 

 remember that the educational value of such lectures 

 will really depend upon the extent to which the 

 teachers who attend them utilize the guidance they 

 receive in making observations for themselves, and 

 seeing in garden, field and hedgerow, in pond and 

 marsh, or by the streamlet's margin, what the lantern- 

 slide or the lecturer's description has only taught 

 them to recognize. They must remember that in the 

 absence of a direct first-hand practical acquaintance 

 with natural objects and processes they can get no 

 real knowledge of them, though they may be able to 

 retail a certain amount of information about them. 

 And I have already contended that information should 

 only play the part of valet to his lord and master- 

 investigation. 



