414 



NATURE 



[Mar. 21,1872 



nation of which one man Ixere and another there (as Schleiuen 

 setsforth inhis book, 'The Plant,' ina charming ideal conversation 

 at the Travellers' Club) has seen and enjoyed more of the wonders 

 and beauties of this planet than the men of any nation, not even 

 excepting the Germans — that this nation, I say, should as yet 

 have done nothing, or all but nothing, to teach in her schools a 

 knowledge of that planet, of which she needs to know more, ani 

 can if she will know more, than any other nation upon it. ... 



"Thus much I can say just now — and there is much more to 

 be said — on the practical uses of natural history. But let me 

 remind you, on the other side, if natural history will help you, 

 you in return can help her ; and would, I doubt not, help her, 

 and help scientific men at home, if once you look fairly and 

 steadily at the immense importance of natural history — of the 

 knowledge of the ' face of the earth.' I believe that all will one 

 day feel, more or less, that to know the earth oti which we live, 

 and the laws of it fy which we live, is a sacred duty to our- 

 selves, to our children after us, and to all whom we may have 

 to command and to influence ; ay, and a duty to God likewise. 

 For is it not an act of common reverence and (aith towards Him, 

 if He has put us into a beautiful and wonderful place, and given 

 us faculties by which we can see, and enjoy, and use that place — 

 is it not a duty of reverence and faith towards Him to use those 

 faculties, and to learn the lessons which He has laid open for us ? 

 If you feel that, as I say you all will some day feel, you will 

 surely feel likewise that it will be a good deed — I do not say a 

 necessary duty, but stdl a good deed and praiseworthy — to help 

 physical science forward, and add your contributions, however 

 small, to our general knowledge of the earth. And how much 

 may be done for science by British officers, especially oh foreign 

 stations, I need not point out. I know that much has been 

 done, chivalrously and well, by officers, and that men of science 

 own them, and give them hearty thanks for their labours ; but 

 I should like, I confess, to see more done still. I should like to 

 see every foreign station, what one or two highly-educated 

 officers might easily make it — an advanced post of physical 

 science, in regular communication with our scientific societies at 

 home, sending to them accurate and methodic details of the 

 natural history of each district — details ^^5°^ of which might seem 

 worthless in the eyes of the public, but which would all be 

 precious in the eyes of scientific nif-n, who know that no fact is 

 really unimportant, and more, that while plodding patiently 

 through seemingly unimportant facts, you may stumble on one of 

 infinite importance, both scientific and practical. 



" There are those, lastly, who have neither time nor taste 

 for the technicalties, the nice distinctions, of formal natural his- 

 tory ; who enjoy Nature, but as artists or as sportsmen, and not 

 as men of science. Let them follow their bent freely : but let 

 them not suppose that in following it they can do nothing 

 towards enlarging our knowledge of Nature, especially when on 

 foreign stations. So far from it, drawings ought always to be 

 valuable, whether of planis, animals, or scenery, provided only 

 they are accurate ; and the more spirited and full of genius they 

 are, the more accurate they are certain to be ; for Nature being 

 alive, a lifeless copy of her is necessarily an untrue copy. Most 

 thankful to any officer for a mere sight of sketches v/ill be 

 the closet butanist, who, to his own sorrow, knows three- 

 fourths of his plants only from dried specimens ; or the closet 

 zoologist, who knows his animals from skins and bones. And if 

 any one answers, ' But I cannot draw,' I rejoin, you can at least 

 photograph. If a young officer, going out to foreign parts, and 

 knowing nothing at all about physical science, did me the honour 

 to ask me what he could do for science, I should tell him, 

 learn to photograph ; take photographs of every strange bit of 

 rock formation which strikes your fancy, and of every widely- 

 extended view which may give a notion of the general lie of the 

 country. Append, if you can, a note or two, saying whether 

 a plain is rich or barren ; whether the rock is sandstone, lime- 

 stone, granitic, metamorphic, or volcanic lava ; and if there 

 be more rocks than one, which of them lies on the other ; and 

 send them to be exhibited at a meeting of the GeologicalSociety. 

 I doubt not that the learned gentlemen there will find in your 

 photographs a valuable hint or two, for which they will be mucli 

 obliged. I learnt, for instance, what seemed to me most valuible 

 geological lessons, from mere glances at drawings — I believe from 

 photographs — of the Abyssinian ranges about Magdala. 



" Or again, let a man. if he knows nothing of botany, not 

 trouble himself with collecting and drying specimens ; let him 

 simply photograph every strange tree or new plant he sees, to 

 give a general notion of its species, its look ; let him append, 



where he can, a photograph of its leafage, flower, fruit, and send 

 them to Dr. Hooker, or any distinguished botanist, and he will 

 find that, though he may know nothing of botany, he will 

 have pretty certainly increased the knowledge of those who do 

 know. 



"The sportsman, again — I mean the sportsman of that type 

 which seems peculiar to these islands, whodovesitoil and danger 

 for their own sakes ; he surely is a naturalist, ipso facto, though 

 he knows it not. He has those very habits of keen observation 

 on which all sound knowledge of nature is based ; and he, if he 

 will — as he may do without interfering with his sport — :can study 

 the habits of the animals,^among whom he spends wholesome 

 and exciting days. 



"The two classes which will have an increasing, it may be 

 a preponderating, influence on the fate of the human race for 

 some time, will be the pupils of Aristotle and those of Alexander 

 — the men of science and the soldiers. They, and they alone, 

 will be left to rule ; because they alone, each in his own sphere, 

 have learnt to obey. It is therefore most needful for the welfare 

 of society that they should pull with, and not against, each 

 other ; that they should understand each other, respect each 

 other, take counsel wiih each other, supplement each other's 

 defects, bring out each other's higher tendencies, counteract each 

 other's lower ones. The scientific man has something to learn 

 of you, gentlemen, which I doubt not that he will learn in good 

 time. \'ou, agiin, have (as I have been hinting to you to-night) 

 something to learn of him, which you, I doubt not, will learn in 

 good time likewise. Repeat, each of you according to his 

 powers, the old friendship between Aristotle and Alexander ; 

 and so, from the sympathy and co-operation of you two, a class 

 of thinkers and actors may yet arise which can save this nation, 

 and the other civilised nations of the world, from that of which 

 I had rather not speak, and wish that I did not think, too often 

 and too earnestly. 



" I may be a dreamer ; and I may consider in my turn, as 

 wilder dreamers than myself, certain persons who fancy that 

 their only business in life is to make money, the scientific man's 

 only business to show them how to make money, and the sol- 

 dier's only business to guard their money for them. Be that as 

 it may, the finest type of civilised man which we are likely to see 

 for some generations to come, will be produced by a combina- 

 tion of the truly military with the truly scientific man. I say, I 

 may be a dreamer : but you at least, as well as my scientific 

 friends, will bear with me ; for my dream is to your honour." 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE FROM 

 AMERICA * 



A LATE number of the College Couraiit, of New Haven, 

 •'*• contains a detailed account of the exploring expedition 

 under Prof. Marsh, which occupied the greater part of the 

 warm season of 1871, and of which we have already furnished 

 occasional n.itices to our readers. The general plan, as already 

 stated, embraced excursions from several points, exploring as 

 many different fields, with special reference to the examination 

 of regions comparatively little known. The first starting-point 

 of operations was Fort Wallace, and from this post the creta- 

 ceous deposits of South-Western Kansas and the region of the 

 Smoky River were investigated. The second proceeded from 

 Fort Bridger in Western Wyoming, to examine the ancient ter- 

 tiary lake basin previously discovered by Prof. Marsh. Salt 

 Lake City was the initial point of the third exploration, and the 

 party proceeded thence to the Shoshone Falls, on Snake River, 

 and from there to Boise City, in Idaho ; thence they pa-sed over 

 the Blue Mountains to the head waters of the John D.iy River, 

 and followed down to Canon City. On the route they made ex- 

 tensive collections of fossil fishes. They also explored two 

 ba.sins, one of the pHocene and theother of themiocene age, andiu 

 these remains of extinct animals were found in large numbers ; 

 the upper bed containing the bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, 

 lion, &c. , with several species of the fossil horse ; the lower and 

 older basin was found to contain species of the rhinoceros, oreo- 

 don, turtles, &c. From this point the party proceeded to the 

 Columbia, and thence to Portland, Oregon, where they took a 

 steamer to San Francisco. Here the expedition divided, a por- 

 tion going to the Vosemite and elsewhere, while several, with 

 Prof. Marsh, sailed, vid Panama, for New York, reaching that 



* Communicated by the Scientific Editor of Harper s Weekly. 



