THE LEARNER REPAID 41 



have arrived, with those of the district we 

 have left. Without such knowledge we 

 should perceive in many cases little difference 

 between them, although there really was a 

 wide divergence, and we should miss a con- 

 stant source of amusement and instruction. 



These are some of the fruits of Nature 

 study. There is a gain, deeper and more 

 important than any of them, which, as I 

 have discussed it at some length in the 

 Introduction to this book, I shall here merely 

 indicate, and leave it to the meditation of 

 my thoughtful readers. The student of 

 Nature, who approaches the study in an 

 attentive and observant spirit, will increase 

 daily in knowledge and reverence. He will 

 learn more and more of the minute detail 

 and perfection of structure which exist in 

 parts of the creation hitherto deemed by him 

 unimportant, or even repulsive, and he will 

 in time be able to repeat with comprehension 

 the words of St. Augustine, Deus magnus 

 in maximis, maximus in minimis : God is 

 great in the very big things, but greatest 

 in the very little. 



