EDIBLE FROG. 9 



ponds of mediaeval times. From the lofty eminence 

 whence ignorant men looked down, all lowlier creatures 

 seemed beneath their study. It remained for the era 

 when we had learned to regard all things that God has 

 made as worthy of our consideration, to increase our 

 knowledge of their " times and seasons." We can 

 hardly imagine it possible that little more than a 

 century ago the " great Cham " of English literature 

 declared that natural history was a study only fit for 

 children ! And we are thankful that we have grown 

 to this to regard the great life-scheme of our planet, 

 past and present, including objects as minute as 

 others are huge, and as structurally simple as others 

 are complex, as one in its nature, evolved through the 

 omniscience of an All-wise Being ! If nothing less 

 than Omnipotence could have produced it, surely we 

 cannot but esteem it one of the noblest studies in 

 which the human mind can be engaged. Science is 

 one with the Psalmist in regarding the inorganic and 

 organic kingdoms of nature as doing His will beasts 

 and all cattle, worms and feathered fowls, mountains 

 and hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, fire and hail, 

 snow and vapour and stormy wind fulfil His word ! 



