AS RELATED TO WEALTH. 91 



LECTUKE III. 



NATURAL HISTORY AS RELATED TO WEALTH. 



IT is sometimes pleasant to journey alone, and 

 sometimes we choose the highway where we are 

 sure of companions. In our speculations, we may 

 like to strike out new paths, or at least to travel in 

 those that are unbeaten ; but if we would find ready 

 listeners, we must select those subjects on which all 

 in the main agree, and consider those relations 

 which all can readily understand. If we can open 

 a road to wealth, we are sure that it will never be 

 deserted. The riches may be in the gold-dust scat- 

 tered in the sands of some far-off plain, or in the 

 whale and seal among the icebergs of the northern 

 seas, or in the deep-caverned mines of coal, the 

 way will be crowded. Hundreds may fail, but 

 others rush to take their places, as though this were 

 the great battle of life, and the watchword were 

 "victory or death." No nation in the world is 

 more ardent in the struggle for these prizes of 



