AMATEUR NATURALISTS 153 



persecution within the walls of the observatory or of the labora- 

 tory. It is said that 'metaphysics' owe their name to the fact 

 that, in Aristotle's works, questions of pure philosophy are dealt 

 with immediately after those of physics. If so, the accident is 

 happily symbolical of the essential relations of things ; for meta- 

 physical speculation follows as closely upon physical theory as 

 black care upon the horseman." 



At the end of the essay Idealist and Materialist are 

 alike criticized, and the concluding passage runs : — 



"Strike out the propositions about which neither contro- 

 versialist does or can know anything, and there is nothing left 

 for them to quarrel about. Make a desert of the Unknowable, 

 and the divine Astraea of philosophic peace will commence her 

 blessed reign." 



A lecture on " Snakes " was given at the Zoological 

 Gardens on June 5, and repeated at the London Institu- 

 tion on December 1. As President of the QuekettClub, 

 Huxley delivered a stimulating Annual Address (J. 

 Quekett Micros. Club, v, 1878-9, pp. 250-5. Delivered 

 July 25, 1879. Sci. Mem., iv, xxi, p. 374). The interest 

 lies in certain suggestions made to amateur naturalists as 

 to the kind of work by which they can best assist in the 

 advancement of science. 



There are some respects in which amateurs are better 

 off than professional scientists. For they are not obliged, 

 like many of the latter, to keep fully abreast of research 

 in all lines, and often have leisure to pursue a kind of 

 detailed work from which the professional, for lack of 

 time, must keep aloof: — 



" If I may say so without offence, such amusement may be 

 regarded as an involuntary ploughing and harrowing of the 

 ground, making it receptive of the seeds of science, and preparing 

 ing it for rich harvests in the future. So, as I said before, 

 whatever member of the Club has joined it for the sake of mere 

 amusement has done a good thing for himself, and has done 



