6 TOWN GEOLOGY. 



In the first place, they need, I presume, occupation 

 after their hours of work. If any of them answer : 

 " We do not want occupation, we want amusement. 

 Work is very dull, and we want something which will 

 excite our fancy, imagination, sense of humour. We 

 want poetry, fiction, even a good laugh or a game of 

 play " I shall most fully agree with them. There is 

 often no better medicine for a hard- worked body and 

 mind than a good laugh ; and the man who can play 

 most heartily when he has a chance of playing is 

 generally the man who can work most heartily when 

 he must work. But there is certainly nothing in the 

 study of physical science to interfere with genial 

 hilarity ; though, indeed, some solemn persons have been 

 wont to reprove the members of the British Associa- 

 tion, and specially that Red Lion Club, where all the 

 philosophers are expected to lash their tails and roar, 

 of being somewhat too fond of mere and sheer fun, 

 after the abstruse papers of the day are read and 

 discussed. And as for harmless amusement, and still 

 more for the free exercise of the fancy and the 

 imagination, I know few studies to compare with 

 Natural History ; with the search for the most beautiful 

 and curious productions of Nature amid her loveliest 

 scenery, and in her freshest atmosphere. I have 

 known again and again working men who in the midst 

 of smoky cities have kept their bodies, their minds, 

 and their hearts healthy and pure by going out into 

 the country at odd hours, and making collections of 

 fossils, plants, insects, birds, or some other objects of 

 natural history ; and I doubt not that such will be the 

 case with some of my readers. 



