assistaace oi these birds, that they have implor- 

 ed the proprietor of die mere at Stanford War- 

 ren to discontiniie gatherins their •eee-R In the 

 first season after their ezss were spared, it vras 

 caJcnlated that not less than 15.000 yoons birds 

 ^■ere hatched : and the immense supply of food 

 ■which this ntuneroas proseny reqnired. sreaily 

 increased the exertions of the old birds in ob- 

 tainine for them many thousands of ■worms and 

 insects. 



Those farmers who, from ig-norance, permit 

 poisonous ■wild plants to spread unchecked, fre- 

 quently sustain serious losses among' their cat- 

 tle : for thoug-h these ftTiirnals refuse such plants 

 ■when STO'is-n to matarity. yet in the early sprine, 

 ■when there is a dedciency of berbaee, and the 

 noxious sorts betray no sensible odor, they will 

 eat, in their extreme eagerness for green food, 

 almost anythins: that presents itsel£ Linnaeus 

 mentions the death of many cattle from feeding, 

 in early spring, upon the ■water-hemlcck. fcicu- 

 ia rirosa .•/* and. more recently, Mr. Edwin 

 Lees has recorded the death of several fine cows 

 from eating the roots of a poisonous umbeUifer- 

 ous plant %vhich had been carelessly suffered to 

 grow about the sides of a ditch. 



Natural History, in its most extensive sense, 

 being inseparably connected -with all the arts of 

 life, ought to form a part cf the education of 

 those who -wish to promote them and to benefit 

 by them. In every school in the kingdom, 

 whether intended for males or females, for the 

 rich or for the poor, Xatural History should find 

 a fijremost place as an elegant and useful ac- 

 complishment There is hardly a common ani- 

 mal or plant concerning which some esregiotis 

 error may not be detected in the minds of the 

 generality of vrhat are termed ■weU-educated 

 people, ■who pride themselves on possessing a 

 jinuh.ed education — finished, indeed, before it 

 had fairiy commenced : for they who have learnt 

 anything know that neither man"s nor woman's 

 education can e^ver be complete, as every day of 

 our lives may be made to yield an improvement 

 upon the lessons of our youth. No one ■will rest 

 content ■with what h^ kno'ws to-day. unless he 

 ■wishes to be a dunce to-morro^w. The wisest 

 men love to call themselves students and labor- 

 ers ia the mines of Kno-wledge, seeking for ne^w 

 facts and even for ne-w sciences that are yet in 

 concealment and ■which are destined to improve 

 the earthly condition of man, and to impress him 

 still more strongly with an incessant conviction 

 of the care ■which God has taken to provide in- 

 numerable blessinss for His industrious and 

 grateful people — blessings •which He has bat 

 temporarily hidden fix)m »s. so that we have 

 the advantages of labor, health, and hope, in 

 seeking for them. AH the world ■was simply 

 Nature when God completed it ; and Natural 

 History, in its widest meaning, is the history of 

 that ■world of Nature; and, therefore, ignorance 

 of Natural History is ignorance of God's world, 

 which presents the most sublime and useful 

 etody man can pursue. 



How general the existence of ignorance ie on 

 the subject of Natural History may be easily 

 conceived from the absurdities relative thereto 

 ■which may be found in the writings of even the 

 most popular essayists, novelists, critics, and 

 others who are more literary than scientific. — 



* A Bimilar plant, eenantie eroctaa, faae lately been 

 dificorered by ProC Christison to be innocuous to man 

 and animaU in Scotland, thouch in the Eooth of Eng- 

 land, and also in Fraiice and Bpain, it hag proved it- 

 - eell an active poison. [Editor. 



*gl4i 



Latin, Greek, and Heathen mytholosy have 

 been too frequently learned, to the entire exclu- 

 sion of any knowledge of those divine works by 

 which we are surrounded, and whereby ^we 

 may practically benefit ourselves and feDow- 

 creatures. In Sweden, Natural History is the 

 study of the schools by which men rise to pre- 

 ferment : and ■we are assured by the celebrated 

 botanist. Sir J. E. Smith, that there are no men 

 ■with more acute or better regulated minds than 

 the Swedes. In the forests of Germany, espe- 

 cially in the small States of the interior — the 

 Hartz. Thtiringia. A:c. — there are schools in 

 ■which are taught Surveying and Planting, to- 

 gether ■with the Zooloey, Botany, and Mineral- 

 ogy of the forest. At one of the most celebra- 

 ted schools in the world — namely, that of M. De 

 Eellenberg. at Hofwyl, in S^witzerland — it is the 

 chief aim of the instructor to inculcate in his nu- 

 merous pupils the importance of closely exam- 

 ining such surrounding objects of Nature as ■will 

 most concern them ■when pursuing the particu- 

 lar professions and trades for which they are in- 

 tended. The school contains about 450 schol- 

 ars, among ■whom are many peasant boys ; and 

 no opportimity is lost of directing the attention 

 of all, but especially of the latter, to Nature's 

 ■works: vrhich are eagerly sought after, atten- 

 tively studied, and most carefuily perused for 

 future reference and instruction. The collecting 

 of these objects afibrds an employment which is 

 not only amusing and usefal, but healthy. The 

 musetmi thus formed is coiistantiy increasing, 

 both in variety and utility. The plants it con- 

 tains are not classified scientifically, but accord- 

 ing to their properties, uses, and localities. — 

 Seeds and specimens of useful sorts of ■wood en- 

 rich this botanical coUection. Q.uadruped«, 

 birds, reptiles, and insects are also studied and 

 preserved by the pupils. The \^-inter evenings 

 are instructively spent in this room by the poor 

 children with their master: and on Sandajrs, 

 after church, they go forth to the hUls and woods, 

 seekinff fi^esh treasures for their musetmi. At 

 Carra, in the neighborhood of Geneva, there is 

 also an aaricultural schooL where the children 

 are taueht the economic Botuny of their native 

 country, besides a variety of other tiseful sub- 

 jects. They amuse themselves with botanical 

 excursions, and the httie students carefully bring 

 home and preserve all the plants which they 

 coUecL 



Hoge. the Ettrick shepherd, declares thai 

 those writers speak falsely ■who assert that oar 

 laborers, herdsmen, and peasants in_ general, 

 have littie or no feeling of the beauty of Nature ; 

 and he might have added that they are freqaent- 

 Iv close observers of her works. This fact in- 

 duces me to believe that much betiefit would 

 arise bv eivins a more scientific aim to their 

 habit of'observarion. How readily the shepherd 

 notices slight external differences, even in ob- 

 jects of the same sjiecies. is exhibited in his 

 readv discrimination of any one sheep in a flock 

 consisting of even many "hundreds, though » 

 the casual observer all the sheep seem exactly 

 alike. "VS^ithout some nice study of Natures 

 minpte distinctions, the shepherd could not so 

 easily detect any sheep in a large fiock. 



The aptitude of peasants to receive scientific 

 truths, when their curiosity is properly awaken- 

 ed, mi?ht be illustrated by mentioning a glonons 

 list of 'eminent philosophers who have arisen 

 from the ranks of shepherds, plowmen, Ac-— 

 We shall, however, mention but two example* 

 At Ba^is-Beost. near the hot springs of the Fyr- 



