54 SEA-SIDE STUDIES. 



foolish priile and pretences ; so full of lessons to us to be in 

 earnest, and to trust in simi)le earnestness. But although 

 contact Avith all reality must necessarily have something 

 of this influence, I should say, speaking from my own expe- 

 rience, that this is true in quite another sense to those 

 minds familiarised with the phenomena of life manifested 

 by the simpler organisms. Here the Microscope is not 

 the mere extension of a faculty, it is a new sense. At 

 some distance from the Alps we discern their masses of 

 purple grandeur, but that is all we discern ; on approaching 

 nearer, these purple masses assume shapes more and more 

 definite, although their varied architecture is still hidden 

 from us : we see none of their ravines and valleys ; a little 

 nearer, and we detect these, but discern none of the chalets 

 nestled in the valley, or scattered over the mountain-sides ; 

 nearer still, we see the habitations, and the cattle, and the 

 men ; yet nearer, and we discriminate individualities ; but 

 we have still to advance, and patiently watch, before the 

 tragedies and comedies acted in these scenes can become in- 

 telligible to us. Thus with each step we have changed our 

 conceptions of the Alps. Thus with each step do we change 

 our conceptions of Nature. We all begin, where most of us 

 end, with seeing things removed from us — kept distant by 

 ignorance and the still more obscuring screen of familiarity. 

 We then learn to observe something besides these broad gen- 

 eral outlines which constitute the scenery of our existence, and 

 learn to admire the magnificence of Nature. The observation 

 of one detail is a step to the recognition of many. In this 

 stage we resemble the traveller who has discovered the Alps 



