Introductory. 2 1 



The loveliest tints displayed by birds as well as their 

 springtide melody, the blossom of all flowers as well as 

 their sweetest perfumes, all become known to us as but 

 subordinate agencies ministering to the great reproductive 

 function spontaneous tributes of organic life to Alma 

 Venus. Such phenomena seem to combine with the 

 evidences of the destructive and apparently cruel pro- 

 cesses of nature to inculcate the brief lesson of the grim 

 symbol at the Egyptian festival " Enjoy/' 



But in our temple of nature it is not only the creatures 

 of this planet which offer themselves to our scrutiny, but 

 even portions of other spheres ; and meteorolites prove 

 to us that similar substances and similar laws to those 

 existing on this earth pervade regions of space remote 

 from and inaccessible to us. 



How strongly does a nature so replete with interest, 

 with wonder, with beauty, with pleasure, and with awe, 

 solicit the devotion of man's faculties ! The courts of such 

 a scientific temple tend to produce in not a few minds 

 feelings of delight mingled with a quasi-religious senti- 

 ment ; and when, instructed by such teaching, we wander 

 forth amidst the living products of nature, that feeling 

 becomes intensified indeed. 



Tropical scenes full of exuberant organic life are, of 

 course, best calculated to call it forth; but even in our 

 own land there is ample material for evoking it. 



When from some smooth-browed, chalky down we, 



