146 YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS' UNION. 



as well might one tr}- to learn a lang"uage from a dictionary. 

 Without obtaining- and examining- natural objects, the}' can 

 neither be fully conceived, nor properly .understood ; still less 

 can their peculiarities of form, of structure, of function, be 

 remembered. 'Things which come to us through the ear,' 

 said Horace, 'affect the feelings less powerfully than those 

 which have the surety of sig-ht.' Lectures and books are great 

 helps, but they cannot make men naturalists. For this, 

 diligent work in the quarry, the field, the wood, the pond, the 

 sea, is necessar}'. The objects obtained awaken a desire to 

 learn about them, and their changes, and their habits ; and the 

 book, which before was dry and uninteresting becomes a source 

 of pleasure and delight. Books themselves are the result of 

 accurate, intellig-ent, persevering observation, not a substitute 

 for them ; thev can tell us much about natural objects, their 

 properties and life histories, but without a closer knowledge of 

 them than books can give, we cannot derive from them the 

 pleasure or satisfaction, which to those who themselves examine 

 and study them, they are sure to impart. If students spent 

 more time in the country and less in the study, they might not 

 be as well equipped for an exatmination, but they would 

 probably learn more, and would remember more. Many, I feel 

 sure, are repelled from natural history studies by technical 

 terms and descriptions, which, however necessary, should follow 

 not precede observation of the objects ';o which they apply. If 

 those who have any inclination towards natural history would 

 become members of our Union, and join us in those excursions 

 which are so pleasurable and instructive, they would, I believe, 

 like many before them, catch the infection, and become not only 

 collectors, but students. To begin with descriptions of objects 

 unseen, is to begin at the wrong end. The meanings of 

 technical terms (which are a great stumbling-block to many) 

 are most easily and pleasantly learned, when the learner has 

 the objects in hand to which they relate, and certainly best 

 remembered. For want of actual work in the field, much ot 

 what is learned from books is forg-otten, and a study becomes 

 dull and wearisome, which might have given ever-increasing 

 and life-long pleasure. In our excursions we see objects which 

 others have met with, as well as those we have collected 

 ourselves ; their relations to and differences from one another 

 are noted ; and, b}' mutual exchange of specimens, material for 

 home-study is obtained, which could not fall to the lot of any 

 solitary observer. There is a tendency, I think, at the present 

 day, on the part of laboratory students to undervalue field-work ; 

 but they should remember, that if there are collectors of 

 specimens, who neglect to study their structure and life history, 

 there are also students of a few types given in books, who do 

 not recognise in the field the species which they have read 

 about, to say nothing of those which strikingly resemble or 



