26 



CHAP. III. 



ASCENT OF THE SPIDER. IMPORTANCE OF THE 



MINUTIAE OF CREATION. CURIOUS HABITS OF 



PECULIAR SPIDERS. ASCENT OF THE SPIDER 



OBSERVED. GENERAL REMARKS CONNECTED WITH 



IT. THE ASCENT CONSIDERED AN ELECTRIC PHE- 

 NOMENON. 



IF the views of the entomologist reach no higher? than 

 the collection of a cabinet of lepidopterae, or the tech- 

 nicalities of mere nomenclature, we may consent to 

 praise his diligence and laborious research, but must 

 withhold our meed of approbation to the soundness of 

 his views as a naturalist. Entomology, confined within 

 limits such as these, is a dull, worthless, and contempt- 

 ible study. 



This branch of natural history, however, has a wider 

 range and nobler field of usefulness ; and though some 

 pseudo-philosophers have sneered at the diminu- 

 tive creatures thus contemplated, they show but the 

 feebleness of their own understanding. Insulated, they 

 may occasionally appear of little note, but with a com- 

 mission from above, become " as the armies of the 

 living God." The contemptible moschito may drive 

 man to madness, and the zimb of Chaldea make even 

 the rhinoceros tremble and flee before it. An army 

 of locusts, denser than the storm-cloud, and compass- 

 ing an extent of many miles, may lay waste, in a few 

 short hours, the blossom and promise of the year, and 

 mercilessly consign the myriad population of a vast 



