Some Humbugs of Science 







A SMATTERING of physical science, 

 such, at least, as relates to plants, 

 stones, birds, and insects, will be a great 

 help on a walk, especially if you go alone. 

 Yet, does not the mere joy of the thing 

 go to him who views nature as a spectacle 

 rather than as phenomena? to the artist 

 rather than to the scientist? If only 

 natural history could be a little more 

 humanized and popularized, but it will 

 be, one of these days. (This is going to 

 be a scolding chapter : I can tell by the 

 way it starts.) Some men are as stingy 

 with knowledge as some other men are 

 with money or work. For centuries it 

 has been the custom among them to build 

 fences of ceremony and dig moats of ob- 

 fuscation about any facts they may have 

 gained, in order to keep other people from 



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