THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 75 



ridiculed, but there is much knowledge obtained in such a pursuit. 

 The geographical distribution of countries with a certain amount of 

 their history very quickly impresses itself on the mind of the collector, 

 much in the same way as the numismatist gathers from his ancient 

 coins and medals, a memory of great actions, chronology and heathen 

 mythology, whilst from those of more modern times he becomes 

 cognisant of many points of history, which without these reminders 

 he might never have given heed to. To collect objects of interest in 

 our daily walks, no matter whether leaves or stones, or fungi, or any- 

 thing whatever, will start a train of thought and lead off the mind 

 with a pleasant strain of reasoning that very quickly dispels the tension 

 in which weightier matters had kept the brain. Kingsley based one of 

 his finest popular lectures on a stone that he picked up by the wayside 

 on his way to the lecture hall, it affording him all the subject matter 

 he needed for the evening. It is astonishing how quickly the idea of 

 arrangement follows collection, and what pleasure is gained in show- 

 ing to others specimens collected by oneself. Then comes in the 

 idea of rivalry with other collectors, aud of supremacy where the 

 struggle alluded to already evinces itself. But it is a pleasant and an 

 honorable struggle and one to be urged on all who wish to make life 

 pleasant, and to step off once in a way from the beaten path of hard 

 brain toil and the dry details of a business life. 



Botany, probably because of the names or terms used in it, is 

 regarded by many as a dry and difificult study. But without a know- 

 ledge of it, however much you may admire flowers or trees, they are 

 like a beautiful woman in a crowd — a stranger to you. With a 

 knowledge of it they become at once friends — you know something 

 of them. You go out into the fields, or the forests, or along the 

 riverside, and the familiar families of plant life all have an interest in 

 your eyes. 



Again, take Natural History. Its study equals in the pleasure it 

 affords the sportsman's pleasure in the chase, and whilst his sport is 

 confined to the comparatively few species of game left in its natural 

 state, the naturalist has open to him the insect world, birds and in- 

 fusoria — a coundess number, the pursuit and study of which are 

 equally as fascinating as the hunters' trophies of his gun. 



Take Geology, where the untrained eye sees nothing but dirt 

 and mud, science will reveal wonderful possibiUties. The mud is a 



