292 APPENDIX. [No. XXI: 







The advantage of the knowledge of objects, and the proper name to 

 be assigned to each, is very great. At these lectures you will find that a 

 large number of objects, embracing also a very great variety, will be shown 

 to you. Excellent and accurate drawings will likewise be exhibited, so 

 that you may be led to form a correct idea of the appearance of those 

 different objects which are presented to your notice. I must here tell 

 you of some instances where persons have not known objects when they 

 have seen them, in order that you may judge for yourselves as to the use 

 which it may be to you to come here and pay attention to these lectures 

 which the proprietors have so liberally provided for you. A working man 

 went to the gold diggings and found a beautiful stone. He showed it to 

 his companions, who thought it a most valuable diamond and offered 

 him at once 200 for it. Being determined not to make a bad bargain, 

 he refused this sum. brought it to England and offered it for sale, when to 

 his horror and dismay he was told that it was really not a diamond, but 

 only a crystal of quartz, and scarcely worth half-a-crown. 



In making you acquainted with the knowledge of objects, the London 

 Institution will be of much use to you; nevertheless we have not the 

 collections here which exist in our national museums : and whilst I ask you 

 to attend diligently these educational lectures, I still also beg of you not to 

 neglect frequent visits to the British Museum, to Kew Gardens, to the 

 Zoological Society, and to the Crystal Palace ; in each of which you will 

 see fresh objects every time you go, although your visits may be very fre- 

 quently repeated ; for you will discover it to be an equally curious and 

 interesting truth, that the oftener you go and the more attentively you 

 look, the more you will find to observe and admire. 



The power of observing increases with its exercise. One boy takes his 

 walk, and sees nothing; another takes the same walk, and sees many 

 things. The observant youth has bestowed his attention upon everything 

 around him ; but the other has passed heedlessly by the most interesting 

 objects. In youth attention is the faculty of the mind which ought to be 

 the most carefully cultivated and practised; and I hope that no one will 

 come to these lectures who will not try to attend, 'and in fact who will 

 not try diligently to attend to all which is passing. 



I am well aware that the youngest of you may sometimes find it 

 difficult to fix your attention. The best plan, however, is to bring with 

 you a pencil and a note-book, and put down the principal points which the 

 lecturer mentions. Whenever your thoughts wander remember the word 

 " ATTENTION." Let " attention " be your watchword ; and then the lectures 

 which you are about to hear will be a source of pleasure now, and perhaps 

 of profit for all future time. 



Th'e managers of the London Institution will spare no expense and 

 BO trouble to render these lectures interesting and instructive to you. 

 The more you desire, the more are they prepared to give you, as it was the 

 only wish of the great merchants who founded this noble institution, that 

 it should, like the sun, send forth its light upon all who desire to partake 

 of its genial influence. 



It is, however, not only the observation of simple objects which is 

 important, but the changes which each object undergoes must be carefully 

 noted. We see the egg of an insect hatched into a caterpillar ; the cater- 

 pillar grow till it spins its web, and turns into a chrysalis; and the 



