which I would ride half as many miles to get a sight 

 of." Such a lively curiosity had the parson. His 

 thirst for exact knowledge was so great, that on 

 one occasion he took measurements of the carcass 

 of a moose when he was probably compelled to 

 hold his nose to finish the task. At one place he 

 heard of a woman who professed to cure cancers 

 by the use of toads ; some of his brother clergymen 

 believed the story, but when he came to sift the evi- 

 dence he made up his mind that the woman was a 

 fraud. 



He said truly, " There is such a propensity in man- 

 kind towards deceiving and being deceived, that 

 one cannot safely relate anything from common 

 report, especially in print, without expressing some 

 degree of doubt and suspicion." 



The observations of hardly one man in five hun- 

 dred are of any value for scientific purposes. 

 / White had the true scientific caution, and was, as 

 a rule, very careful to verify his statements. 



Of course the science of White's time was far be- 

 hind our own. The phenomenon of the weather, for 

 instance, was not understood then as it is now. The 

 great atmospheric waves that sweep across the con- 

 tinents and the regular alternations of heat and cold 

 were unsuspected. White observes that cold de- 

 scended from above, but he thought that thaws often 

 originated under ground, " from warm vapours which 

 arise." He was greatly puzzled, too, when, during 



