12 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



aid the memory in recalling the name of fossil, plant, bird, or other 

 object. The memory, like other organs of the body, is strengthened 

 and invigorated by reasonable exercise. It is true to-day, as it was 

 in the earlier times, though not to so great an extent, that in many 

 instances the cultivators of Natural History Science confine them- 

 selves, for the most part, to the mere collection of cabinet specimens, 

 whose individual worth is estimated by comparative beauty or 

 singularity of form, whilst the more important facts and phenomena 

 respecting the relation of these animal, vegetable and mineral bodies, 

 the one to the other, are entirely overlooked. 



I would not condemn these collectors. They should be encour- 

 aged, for by their desire to possess a goodly collection, by whatever 

 name you may choose to designate it, they very frequently meet with 

 and procure valuable s.pecimens, and in such a state of preservation, 

 as regards form and color, that they might be regarded as typical of 

 their species. These collectors are thereby unconsciously doing a 

 good work, and the army of scientific workers are not slow to acknow- 

 ledge the fact. 



It would be exceedingly difficult for us to imagine a mind capable 

 of retaining within its grasp the multitudinous facts which scientific 

 investigation has unfolded and brought to light. Let us suppose, 

 for the present, that there was such a mind capable of comprehend- 

 ing in full detail the whole range of the scientific world, and could 

 see mirrored before him not only the explored, but also the unex- 

 plored fields of Science. We cannot doubt but that a flood of light 

 would be thrown upon their intermutual relations, and special de- 

 pendence on the objects by which they are surrounded. Notwith- 

 standing this drawback, the hmitation of the human mind, as regards 

 the comprehension of nature in all its phases, the various students of 

 natural and scientific research, have, perforce, become specialists in 

 their particular branch of study, and have produced, as the result of 

 their labors, a cogent statement of facts, which, when united, places 

 before the student a concise and instructive collaboration, based upon 

 the fundamental unity of plan, which pervades all created nature 

 throughout time and space. 



Those who look upon botany, zoology and geology, as so many 

 distinct sciences, should bear in mind that the laws regulating the 

 facts which these various branches of study have generally brought 



