viii PREFACE. 



not been my object to sketch the outlines or lay down 

 the foundations of any science ; but to show, as best I could, 

 how much of wonder and beauty enters into our daily life, and 

 what inexhaustible sources of study lie at our very feet. It is, 

 perhaps, a misfortune of our common systems of education 

 that they too much neglect the tuition of the eye ; that the 

 young are not taught to mark the curious and interesting 

 objects which are comprehended within their daily vision; 

 that they know so much about ancient mythology and so little 

 about modern science, so much about gods and heroes, so 

 little about stars and flowers. 



I have called this volume " Everyday Objects," not be- 

 cause those which it describes may be seen every day, but 

 because they mostly belong to the region of the commonplace 

 and familiar; and I have called it "Picturesque Aspects 

 of Natural History," because I have endeavoured, in com- 

 panionship with my French collator ateur, to indicate the 

 poetical side of the various sciences into which I have pre- 

 sumed to penetrate. If it should awaken a love of nature in 

 any breast, or develop a spirit of inquiry, which may lead 

 the student further and further on the path of knowledge, the 

 labour bestowed upon these pages will not have been in vain. 



The instinct of curiosity, says M. Hoefer, in his preface to 

 the first series of " Les Saisons," is the awakening of the 

 intellectual life : it commences with the lisping of the child, 



