34 GLAUCUS ; OE, 



table," and '' mineral," are trembling in tlie balance, 

 seemingly ready to vanish like their fellows — " the 

 four elements" of fire, earth, air, and water. No 

 branch of science has hel])ed so much to sweep away 

 that sensuous idolatry of mere size, which tempts 

 man to admire and respect objects in proportion to 

 the number of feet or inches which they occupy in 

 space. 'No branch of science, moreover, has been more 

 humbling to the boasted rapidity and omnipotence of 

 the human reason, or has more taught those who 

 have eyes to see, and hearts to understand, how 

 weak and wayward, staggering and slow, are the 

 steps of our fallen race (rapid and triumphant 

 enough in that broad road of theories which leads 

 to intellectual destruction) wdiensoever they tread 

 the narrow path of true science, which leads (if I 

 may be allowed to transfer our Lord's great parable 

 from moral to intellectual matters) to Life ; to the 

 living and permanent knowledge of living things, 

 and of the laws of their existence. Humbling, 

 truly, to one who, in this summer of 1854, the 

 centenary year of British zoophytology, looks back 



