606 [Proc. B.N.F.C. 



hobbies are his spiritual vertebrae. They compose his back- 

 bone, and the marrow of his character. A man with a hobby or 

 two, sleek, and well kept, is well to do in his mind ; and to 

 this extent, although it may in no other respect, is mentally 

 respectable. A man's hobby is the point upon which he is 

 strong, and we respect strength. 



Dr. Andrew Wilson, in liis " Body and Brain," says on the 

 value of a hobby : — " Many men engaged closely in business 

 suffer from brain-fag, because they do not take care to ensure 

 that the brain-work is sufficiently varied. In plain language 

 this is what we mean when we speak of a man possessing a 

 " hobby." I should be careful to explain here that I do not 

 mean a " fad." The man with a fad has generally the idea 

 that his mission in life is to reform every person with whom he 

 comes in contact, according to his own narrow and preconceived 

 views. He is a social nuisance, responsible for a good deal of 

 brain worry on the part of his victims. But the man with a 

 hobby injures no one ; he takes delight in his flowers, his 

 fossils, his animals, his aquarium, his coins, his insects, or any 

 other little by-study in which he has found interest and relief 

 by contrast of occupation from the ordinary routine of his 

 daily life." 



u A man's hobby provides him with a change of occupation, 

 turns the working of his brain-cells into another channel, 

 liberates his nervous energy in fresh directions, and by pro- 

 bably instituting new connections between the groups of brain- 

 cells, makes the brain a more efficient instrument for the 

 governance and control of the body. Therefore it is that I 

 strongly advocate the cultivation of a hobby by every person. 

 Lord Salisbury, we are told, is in private life a very 

 efficient chemist, and I know men who, in what may be 

 called the leisure time of their lives, have made themselves 

 efficient bookbinders, turners, and amateur engravers. Herein 

 lies, I think, a tremendous safety-valve for the modern brain- 

 cell. It is an efficient instrument enough for the discharge of 

 the work it is intended to do, but it has its own little woes and 



