Correspondents and Critics. 273 



in the way of information, and how disheartening 

 to find a cherished fact gathered from one source 

 asserted to be but a fancy in another. What 

 are we to believe ? This is a gloomy question 

 that dogs our steps, harries our nerves, and 

 proves hopelessly confusing from early manhood 

 to life's close. 



The interpretation of Nature ! She yet needs 

 to be interpreted in many directions and the 

 cloud lifted that still renders misty what should 

 be clear as noonday. It is true, as bright rain- 

 drops come from murky clouds, so crystal clear 

 facts are born of doubt and wrangling, but is 

 such a birth a necessity ? Nature does not with- 

 hold the truth, but into what strange vessels do 

 the precious facts occasionally fall ! Vessels that 

 have some malign power by which the plain 

 is rendered obscure ; the clear made murky ; the 

 direct and straight made aimless and crooked. 

 He is the exception, we are almost led to think, 

 who can carry from the laboratory to the world 

 at large a newly acquired fact without marring 

 its beauty or befogging its significance. Can it 

 be that the remedy lies within ourselves ? This 

 is much like making every one the superior of 

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