General Introduction 



Anne ! Not only has man been winning knowl- 

 edge of her in a thousand fields of exploration, ex- 

 periment and philosophy, but each of the myriad 

 strands in her skein is traced as subtly bound 

 to every other in ways unimaginable to the most 

 piercing intellects of eras past. Some of the 

 finest of Pope's verse was inspired in the garden 

 he loved to pace, but how much more he would 

 see around him there were he living now ! He 

 would find the whole scheme of heavens and 

 earth implicated in that garden's beauty. Its 

 soil telling of forces of storm and heat and chemic 

 war, all at work, in time too extended for compu- 

 tation, to grind primeval rock to fertility. He 

 would see the incomparable tints of every flower 

 conferred by diverse elements aflame in an orb 

 a celestial diameter away; elements akin to the 

 flower's own substance. Other indebtedness 

 would be detected in the tribes of * buzzing 

 insects surrounding each blossom, insects, which, 

 while sipping a flower, lend vital aid in continu- 

 ing its race. No hue or scent here without its 

 use in enticement of this winged ministry ! And 

 were the poet's garden only various enough in its 

 tenantry, he might count among his flowers 

 many strictly conforming to the mould of their 

 insect visitors. Wheresoever he might turn his 

 eye in the whole realm of Nature he would see it 

 fuller, richer; its every province more intimately 

 interlaced than when he penned his eloquent 

 Essay on Man. 



Whilst the study of Nature has been revealing 

 vi 



