50 NATURAL HISTORY 



'surrounding the capsule of a moss. Yet the multi- 

 plied angular measurements on the one hand, and 

 the detail of organic relations on the other, alike aid 

 in preparing the way for the attainment of higher 

 views of the laws of the universe." 



It is with such views of the benefits of Natural 

 History that we would have its study entered upon 

 by the young. It may not bring money to them, 

 but it will open new sources of pleasure. Nature 

 will become an exhaustless volume, read with de- 

 light ; and not simply a series of pictures which they 

 can admire indeed, but only as children do their 

 primers, without a thought of the story, or at least 

 without the ability to read it. Thousands have ad- 

 mired the beauties of the moss covering the earth 

 with an elastic carpet of green ; but how is that 

 beauty heightened to a Humboldt, when he sees in 

 the microscopic points in its nodding capsule a 

 new note in the harmony of the universe ! 



If we look then at the long catalogue of honored 

 names, whose whole lives have been given to the 

 study of Natural History if we look at the vol- 

 umes and cabinets which now record their labors 



