PREFACE 



a needle of the pine branches would tremble. '' 

 " Nature for its Own Sake," then, means simply 

 that herein nature is considered as sufficient 

 unto itself. The forms and colors of this earth 

 need no association with mankind to make them 

 beautiful. 



So far as application or illustration is con- 

 cerned, my argument has no direct bearing upon 

 any branch of science, literature, or art. I have 

 used scientific facts occasionally to point a 

 meaning without designing a scientific book ; I 

 have in places spoken of literature, but the book 

 is not an appeal to nature from those who have 

 written about it ; and as for art, the word does 

 not appear after this preface. Painters or writ- 

 ers, with their truth or falsity of statement, are 

 not my present concern. What, then, is the 

 object of the book ? Simply to call attention to 

 that nature around us which only too many peo- 

 ple look at every day and yet never see, to show 

 that light, form, and color are beautiful regard- 

 less of human meaning or use, to suggest what 

 pleasure and profit may be derived from the 

 study of that natural beauty which is everyone's 

 untaxed heritage, and which may be had for the 

 lifting of one's eyes. 



In measure these pages are records of per- 



