i OUTLOOK AND ENDEAVOUR 17 



The pleasure derived from the discovery of some secret 

 of Nature unknown before except to the architect of the 

 universe surpasses all the rewards the world can give. 

 It is a compensation which takes the place of worldly 

 riches and enables unselfish work to be done from which 

 others often make commercial gain. While men engaged 

 in other pursuits lose their interest in later life, in the 

 man of science the love of Nature and the desire for new 

 knowledge is eternal. Dr. Weir Mitchell relates that 

 once, at his table, some one- asked that ever-happy 

 naturalist, Joseph Leidy, if he were never tired of life. 

 " Tired ! " he said ; " Not so long as there is an 

 undescribed intestinal worm, or the riddle of a fossil 

 bone, or a rhizopod new to me." These subjects may 

 seem uninspiring, but the words reveal the spirit of the 

 ardent lover of a mistress of unfading charm. Of this 

 great student and teacher, the following lines were 

 spoken on the occasion of the inauguration of a memorial 

 lectureship in his honour : 



The wisest man could ask no more of fate 

 Than to be simple, modest, manly, true, 

 Safe from the many, honoured by the few ; 



Nothing to count in world, or church, or State, 



But inwardly in secret to be great ; 

 To feel mysterious Nature ever new, 

 To touch, if not to grasp, her endless clue, 



And learn by each discovery how to wait, 



To widen knowledge and escape the praise ; 

 Wisely to teach because more wise to learn ; 



To toil for science, not to draw men's gaze, 

 But for her love of self denial stern ; 



That such a man could spring from our decays 

 Fans the soul's nobler faith until it burn. 



Prof. E. F. Smith. 



Testimony to the complete satisfaction and perennial 

 interest derived from the study of Nature has been given 



G.D. B 



