AS RELATED TO INTELLECT. 41 



ignorance and of superficial contemplation," as Lord 

 Bacon calls them. It thus joins action of mind and 

 body ; gives vigor to the former by its pleasant con- 

 trast to mere book-studies, and by giving tone and 

 strength to the latter. Its study is the true method 

 of economizing time in education, for when other 

 books must be closed the book of nature is open ; 

 and its subjects of thought meet the eye in our 

 strolls of pleasure, in our hurried walks, and as we 

 rest by the wayside. The swiftness of the car is 

 hardly able to confuse their clustering forms along 

 the way. Our knowledge thus grows in odd mo- 

 ments; and a large portion of life is saved from 

 waste, and made like flower-beds in nooks and bor- 

 ders of gardens, more beautiful because found in 

 places so often neglected. 



"We shall find no spot on this earth where there is 

 not some alcove of nature's library, with volumes 

 enough to employ us for life. The investigations are 

 always original. The species may be described in 

 the book in our hand, but the particular individual 

 which we are to examine is still to be studied in 



every characteristic. The description must be seen 



4* 



