VI PEE FACE. 



how soft and gentle are the influences which 

 take possession of the mind, when it turns the 

 channel of its musings from the bright world 

 around it, to the great Fountain and Source 

 and Creator of all. 



There is probably no time in life when a 

 fondness for the study of Nature may be more 

 safely cultivated than in early childhood. It 

 is then that the mind turns with true simpli- 

 city from the visible objects of its admiration, 

 to the adoration of the Invisible whc created 

 them; and what more happy moment than 

 this to instil into the mind of a child the great 

 truths of that religion, whose sublime doctrines 

 are so abundantly illustrated in Holy Writ by 

 direct references to objects in the outward 

 world ? Our Saviour, in his teachings to his 

 disciples, frequently alludes to the beauties of 

 his Father's creation : " Consider the lilies of 

 the field how they grow ; they toil not, neither 

 do they spin ; and yet I say unto you that 

 Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 

 one of these." 



The object of these pages is not so much to 

 attempt a description of rare and curious 



