ON THE STUDY OF NATURE 25 



unique. In fact, there is no book printed that 

 contains the names of all of them, so that when he 

 writes his descriptions of them for the learned 

 societies, many of his ' finds ' will be new to science. 

 His collection is one long series of hidden beauties, 

 hundreds of the fossils being exquisite beyond 

 description. After such an instance as this who can 

 say he has no time over and above that absorbed 

 in the ordinary duties of life ? 



Those who do not know how to make a beginning 

 as collectors may learn from the following incident. 

 Some years ago a gentleman gave me an account 

 of his own experiences. He began life as a poor 

 lad with limited privileges, but with a longing to 

 know something of the objects he saw in a museum. 

 He provided himself with a cardboard box, into 

 which he put specimens of chalk, limestone, iron, 

 coal, slate, a pebble, and a bit of flint. This 

 was the nucleus of his collection. He looked into 

 books for information about each of his specimens, 

 and beginning with the chalk, he became so fas- 

 cinated that he wrote out a lengthy description of 

 the chalk formation, and proceeded to the study of 

 coal. This too he found intensely interesting ; and 

 so on until he became pretty well acquainted with 

 the origin and history of each of the items in his 

 humble collection. At this stage he knew more 

 geology than many people knew who had greater 

 advantages. He added to his collection, and read 

 on as he added. The time came when he read 



