CRYSTALLINE VASES AND THEIR INHABITANTS. 37 



under the specious show of great learning, are now 

 presented to us. These things are at last in such 

 a muddle that they are more difficult to master 

 than the objects they are designed to teach ; and, 

 indeed, if one would really learn as much as 



Fio. 6. Floscnlaria i-ampamrtata. 



possible of the operations of Nature, he must leave 

 those devices of man to come in after, and not at 

 the commencement of, his studies. He must go to 

 Dame Nature's own school, and little by little 

 learn all about her, even as a child learns to walk 

 and talk. 



Pursuing this method, we eventually find that 

 organic life on this earth is not split up into sharp 

 and well-defined classes as at first sight might be 



