2 



SCIENCE. 



IVou II., No. 22. 



of nature, there is the germ of such an asso- 

 ciation. He or she can easilj' gather together 

 a dozen of boys .and girls, men and women, 

 who will find in open-air inquiry a rich reward 

 for all the time and force that such activitj' 

 demands. There should be as little of the 

 machinerj' of a society as the circumstances 

 will admit : a council of three to five persons 

 to direct the scheme of studies, and a secre- 

 tsay, will serve all the first needs of the asso- 

 ciation. A few winter- time meetings will find 

 an interest in the discussion of the problems 

 that the neighborhood aflbrds, in the review of 

 work that has been done, and of work there is 

 to do ; but the most of the work should be 

 done in the field-meetings. 



When there are enough engaged in the work 

 to warrant it, it will perhaps be well to have 

 particular inquiries placed in special hands. 

 Each field-meeting should be for some partic- 

 ular end or ends ; and, after the field-work is 

 done, the members should be gathered to- 

 gether, still by preference in the open air, for 

 a discussion of the results obtained. 



In those cases where the circumstances 

 admit, it is well for such a society to begin 

 the making of a little museum devoted to the 

 illustration of the field with which %\x&y have 

 to deal. The cost of such a collection need 

 not be great ; and the utility of the work is 

 very great, provided it be not too much of a 

 burthen to the association. It would best not 

 be undertaken unless the club can see its way 

 to a well-assured income of at least five hun- 

 dred dollars per annum, beyond the rent of a 

 room where it is deposited. Generallj^ it will 

 be possible in towns of any size, and where 

 public spirit reigns, permanently to secure a 

 room in some schoolhouse or libvarj' build- 

 ing, Large enough for the needs of the lit- 

 tle museum. The walls of a i-oom twenty 

 by thirty will serve for the storage of speci- 

 mens for many years, and its floor-space will 

 be great enough for meetings in the winter 

 mouths. 



The first thing to be secured is as good a 

 map as can be obtained, on a tolerably large 

 scale, of the region to be studied ; for the 



awakening of the geographical sense of the 

 members is one of the best results that can be 

 obtained by a field-club. In proper time this 

 map can become the place of record of a 

 great deal of fact which cannot be represented 

 by the specimens that ma}- be gathered from 

 the field that it represents. 



The five hundred dollars' revenue upon which 

 such a collection should always rest will serve, 

 with due economy, to provide shelves for Ihe 

 collections, to meet the cost of alcohol, bottles, 

 etc., and pa}- the trifling other charges of the 

 societj-. 



While it is best that the work of such a 

 societ}- should be thproughl}- autonomous, — 

 that the motive foi' its prosecution should come 

 from the people themselves, — it will at times 

 be well to secure the aid of some one specially 

 trained in such problems as its field affords, 

 in the way of suggestions concerning work to 

 be done. Many naturalists will be glad to 

 give aid in this waj-, either by a lecture, or b}' 

 written advice. Every field affords problems 

 in geology, botany, entomologj-, etc., the solu- 

 tion of which is within the limits of the 

 simplest research if it onlj- be p.atient and 

 truth-seeking in spirit. More of the future of 

 natural history lies in the prosecution of such 

 inquiries than in all the work that can be done 

 in the closet. 



Such collections, as soon as they are begun, 

 will at once command the attention of work- 

 ing naturalists. The}' are sure to be visited 

 and studied ; and this 'interest they arouse 

 will, in itself, pave the way to a quickened 

 life, and better inquiry on the part of the 

 members of the club. 



When these societies become numerous 

 enough, — when there are a dozen working in 

 New England, for instance, — it will be well to 

 have a little joint action among them, such as 

 could be obtained by an annual meeting of rep- 

 resentatives frpm them, for the discussion of 

 methods and of problems to be jointlj- investi- 

 gated. The interesting experiment of a state 

 meteorological S3-stem in- Missouri has shown 

 how useful local observers can be in this 

 science. It might be well for the societies to 



