Auduhon''s Ornithology, First Volume. 349 



" Thus may our lives, exempt from public toil, 

 Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in every thing." 



A very visible and decided change in the pubhc mind in favor 

 of the study of natural history, has taken place in this country 

 within a very short space of time. The universal dependence of 

 almost every one upon his own individual exertions for support, 

 have deterred, till within a few years, nearly all from even the 

 most partial attention to this subject. Our young men have felt 

 that their time was too precious to be so employed. But a mark- 

 ed change has been taking place. The avidity with which the 

 youth of many of our seminaries of learning are turning their 

 attention hither is most gratifying. We hail it as a harbinger of 

 good — as a means of doing away with a vast deal of those vi- 

 cious habits into which students at colleges are but too prone to 

 fall from sheer want of something to occupy their leisure hours, 

 and which we cannot but believe the study of nature will sup- 

 ply to many. It was well remarked by one familiar with the 

 subject, in a recent lecture before the Natural History Society of 

 the young men of Harvard College, at their anniversary in May : 



"He who loves nature, loves not revelry ; artificial excitement has no fascina- 

 tion for him. The overflowing cup and unmeaning and dishonest game, cannot 

 entice him. He avoids them with disgust and disdain. Fortunate indeed is it for 

 that young man who early imbibes his taste for natural objects, and who has not 

 been thwarted in his wishes by injudicious friends ! 



"Does any one doubt the influence of these studies upon the morals.' I will 

 ask him to point to me the immoral young man who is devotedly fond of natural 

 history.'' I never knew such an one. Does he still doubt the correctness of my 

 inferences .' I will show him valued friends who once mistook their course of 

 duty and greatly erred : examining some natural productions, they were delighted; 

 farther examination changed their delight to wonder and astonishment; they could 

 hardly realize that such sources of exquisite pleasure were ever within their reach. 

 Ashamed to indulge in their previous degrading career, to associate with their for- 

 mer companions, they stood forth regenerated ; and, with renovated health and 

 ardent devotion, live, grateful vi^orshippers of the Omnipotent. 



" The day is not far distant, when the establishment of your society shall be 

 acknowledged to have been a most happy occurrence ; when it shall be looked 

 back to as the era at which commenced a visible change in the tastes and habits 

 of the young men, who have resorted hither, when to be one of its members will 

 be a passport to confidence and respect. Heaven grant the time may not be long 

 delayed ere a fountain shall flow here, whose water shall be the purer the deeper 

 it is drawn — ere, within these consecrated walls, by the enthusiastic naturalist, 

 shall be explained the works of the Almighty." 



No one has probably contributed more towards creating and fos- 

 tering a taste for nature in this country, than the justly celebrated 



Vol. XXXIX, No. 2.— July-September, 1840. 45 



