38 ON COMMENCING THE STUDY OF FUNGI. 



for ail iustaut to detarmiue what they are, but pack them off at once 

 to some expert, with a polite uote, " Please to inform me of the names 

 of the enclosed." Such a proceeding is not only a disgrace to any 

 intelligent man, but it is also a shameful tax on the energies of the too 

 willing expert, who, like a true naturalist, is ever willing to extend a 

 helping hand. I have known persons to follow this process year after 

 year, sending the same common thing three or four times over, and 

 even after ten years not a step beyond the point from which they 

 started. 



It is only we, who follow a specialty, who know the extent to which 

 this brass is passed as gold. Depend upon it, we can form our estimate 

 of men who make collections, and borrow reputations, at the cost of 

 other men's brains. 



Do not imagine that you are failing because you cannot appraise 

 your own success. You may seem to stand still, and yet, if your work 

 is earnest and genuine, you will be progressing. Acquisition of know- 

 ledge can never be set down as a failure ; and one cannot cut up and 

 examine plants, whether fungi or others, one after another, and not 

 acquire knowledge. True knowledge is not showy and pedantic. A 

 little popgun may make a great noise. 



Do not attempt too much. Confine your operations to some 

 definite limit. Let the Agarics, for instance, be the summit of your 

 ambition, and do not attempt more till you comprehend the method 

 of classification, and have laid a good foundation ; then you may go 

 on and add another story to your house. Attempting too much means 

 failure in all. You know what we think of a man who knows a little 

 of everything — the title of every book, the mysteries of every trade. 

 We know also the success which men have achieved by confining 

 themselves to a small group of insects, to a single order of plants, and 

 how easy it is for them to add another, and another, when they have 

 learnt one thing well. 



