34 NATURE STUDY 



The subject has been vastly extended since 

 Dr. Holmes wrote TJie Poet at the Breakfast 

 Table. To take a single instance, there are 

 now known to science about a quarter of a 

 million of insects. As that number conveys 

 no distinct meaning, I shall express the idea 

 in another form. It is reasonable to suppose 

 that ten insects might be described upon one 

 page. An account of 250,000 would, in that 

 case, occupy 25,000 pages. These pages, 

 bound in books of 500 each, would make fifty 

 large volumes. This would be a huge work, 

 and yet it would contain nothing but descrip- 

 tion of the baldest character, would omit all 

 notice of classification, habits, instincts, and 

 the other matters which impart life and 

 interest to the study, and would deal with 

 only one group of animals ! 



The immensity of the subject compels 

 specialization, but there is danger in carrying 

 this process too far. The specialist is apt to 

 lose all sense of proportion, and to assign to 

 the subject upon which he is engaged an 

 importance which it does not deserve. There 

 is also the risk that, recognizing the impossi- 

 bility of one man comprehending all that is 



