Thoriilcy : Equipnicnf of the Field Naturalist. 1 19 



Granted then that our naturalist has read widely and 

 g'enerously on those subjects which will be of use to him in his 

 vocation, it cannot be doubted but that he will attain to some 

 kind of proper ideal, and that he will recogfnise in what direc- 

 tions his work will lead to the best results. For example, 

 ' collecting-' will mean to him no long^er the act of accumulating' 

 specimens, but will be looked upon as a valuable aid to the 

 fascinating- study of the distribution of living forms, not only in 

 his own county but finally over all the earth. From this point 

 of view the study of the commonest insect will be as full of 

 interest to him as that of the rarest — a thoug^ht quite alien to 

 the mind of the averag^e collector. And to g"ive another example 

 of study as dominated b)^ the scientific ideal, the naturalist will 

 never account that his study of an object is complete until he 

 has seen it in contact with its proper environment, until he has 

 traced out those numerous correlations upon which its very 

 existence depends. Natural history is really the study of cor- 

 relations — no animal or plant exists for itself, but for the good 

 of the rest. For example, an ichneumon fly depends for its 

 existence upon a certain caterpillar. The caterpillar in its turn 

 depends upon a supply of leaves of a certain tree, the tree depends 

 upon its roots being- encased in a mantle consisting^ of the 

 mycelium of a fungais. Destroy the last of these links and you 

 destroy all. Or take the correlated-life of an oak tree. What 

 amout of study would ever make us accurately acquainted with 

 the whole ? Yet herein lies the very fascination of the subject ; 

 the infiniteness, so to speak, of it ; the feeling- that there is 

 always something- to learn, something- to be found out. That 

 every line, colour, sound, movement, odour has some meaning- 

 with respect to the whole. To find out this meaning", to be able 

 to put questions to Nature in the expectation that we shall 

 get some answers which will g-o towards elucidating- the won- 

 derful mystery of the whole, that it is which makes natural 

 history the most enchanting- of all studies. Thus studied it 

 leads always to a certain elevation of mind, a feeling- which is 

 a true symptom that we are on the right road. Our eyes are 

 open to see the immense wealth of that Nature by which we 

 are surrounded, to appreciate the infinite beauty and grace of 

 form which everywhere exists, makes us feel — 



This world's no blot nor blank, 



It means intensel_\- and means g-ood, 



To find its meaning; is mj' meat and drink. 



Now I take it that it is the very purpose of Natural History 



1903 April I. 



