46 NAT URAL HISTORY 



drafted to constant labor, the senses are so changed 

 in degree that they seem almost new in kind. Dis- 

 tinctions are marked, threads of truth gathered up, 

 which unpractised senses can not perceive, nor minds 

 untrained to like studies appreciate. 



This accounts for the common undervaluing of 

 the most important labors of the Naturalist. What 

 need of blinding one's self in studying microscopic 

 organisms and the mere impressions in the rocks ? 

 Because they are links in the chain tints in the 

 grand picture. As well might the linguist neglect 

 the breathings and accents of his Greek language, 

 the astronomer his fractions of a second, as the nat- 

 uralist these minute and seemingly useless object. 

 As well might men sneer at the painter for giving 

 those fine touches that mark the works of masters, 

 or at the sculptor, as his chisel brings out, by its 

 fine cutting, the desired expression, as at the natur 

 alist when studying these minute shadings on the 

 great canvas of nature. It is by these intershadin;rs 

 alone that the parts are seen to form an harmonic as 

 whole, in the contemplation of which the mind is 

 both delighted and truly educated. 



