



POPULAR GUIDE 



TO THE 



OBSERVATION OF NATURE. 



SECTION I. 



The Necessity and Use of Observing. 



So natural is observation to us, that we in com- 

 mon language allude to it in cases where there is 

 really nothing to observe. When we are perplexed 

 and in difficulty about the absent or the future, and 

 take counsel together in order that, by our union, 

 we may overcome the difficulty, our words of 

 mutual encouragement are, " Let us see ;" and when 

 we have exercised our thoughts rightly, and the 

 difficulty is overcome to our mind, our expression 

 of triumph is, " Now we see our way." Also, when- 

 ever we fail in that which we attempt, or err in the 

 performance of it, the cause of the failure or the 

 error is, that " We do not see our way." To see 

 our way, and to see it clearly, ought therefore, in 

 all matters, to be our very first object. Indeed, the 

 only difference between the ignorant and the intel- 

 ligent is, that the former grope, as it were, in the 

 dark, and the latter see the end of matters, as if the 

 road were open and straight, and the noon-day sun 

 shining upon it. 



This seeing with the mind this light of the un- 

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