18 



DISCOVERY 



CH. 



by many men of science. " In my laboratory," said 

 Robert Boyle, " I find that water of Lethe which causes 

 that I forget everything but the joy of making experi- 

 ments." This great natural philosopher is said to have 

 remarked that he feared death only because after it he 

 would know all things, and no longer have the delight 

 of making discoveries. Dumas, the renowned French 

 chemist, was a man of affairs as well as a man of science, 

 yet he said : 



The recollections of an already long life have permitted mo to 

 become acquainted with a great variety of personages. And if 

 I call on memory to picture to me how the type of true happiness 

 is realised on earth I do not see it under the form of the powerful 

 man clothed in high authority, nor under that of the rich man 

 to whom the splendours of luxury and the delicacies of well- 

 being are granted, but under that of the man of science, who 

 consecrates his life to penetrating the secrets of Nature and to the 

 discovery of new truths. J. B. A. Dumas. 



On the occasion of his eighty-ninth birthday, the 

 biology class at the University of Colorado sent Dr. 

 Alfred Russel Wallace a greeting, and to it the veteran 

 naturalist replied : 



The wonders of Nature have been the delight and solace of my 

 life. From the day when I first saw a bee-orchis in ignorant 

 astonishment, to my first view of the grand forests of the Amazon ; 

 thence to the Malay Archipelago, where every fresh island with its 

 marvellous novelties and beauties was an additional delight 

 Nature has afforded me an ever-increasing rapture, and the 

 attempt to solve some of her myriad problems an ever-growing 

 sense of mystery and awe. And now, in my wild garden and 

 green-house, the endless diversities of plant life renew my enjoy- 

 ments ; and the ever-changing pageants of the seasons impress 

 me more than ever in my earlier days. I sincerely wish you all 

 some of the delight in the mere contemplation of Nature's 

 mysteries and beauties which I have enjoyed, and still enjoy. 

 Dr. A. Russel Wallace. 



