1908-1909.] Nature Notes. 135 



Yll.— NATURE NOTES. 



By The PRESIDENT. 



{Read March ^4, 1909.) 



The main object of a Society like ours is to interest people 

 generally in the study of Natural History in all its branches. 

 This is, of course, almost all that can be accomplished at our 

 evening meetings. But our field excursions, where a taste for 

 work and study out-of-doors is encouraged, are intended to 

 rouse curiosity and to satisfy it by the results of personal 

 observation. The original intention of this Society was to 

 make the outdoor excursions lessons of inquiry, for the method 

 of learning by inquiry is much superior to a system of lectur- 

 ing. The whole of our out-of-door education is intended to 

 make us think clearly and draw accurate conclusions from the 

 facts that we observe. The work done at our field excursions 

 may not be great and there may be little system in it, but a 

 taste for work and study out-of-doors is very often the result. 

 However little inclined to nature study, every field-excursionist 

 is certain to derive some benefit and satisfaction from these 

 excursions, where there are often many curious things observed, 

 which the best naturalist is sometimes at a loss to explain or 

 describe. But under a good leader every excursion can be 

 made a source of instruction and interest to all. By directing 

 attention to some of the characteristics of natural objects, he 

 may arouse a desire in some to know more of Natural History, 

 and to become himself an expert in nature's ways. By this 

 means an interest in nature studies is developed and spread. 

 A real knowledge of nature can only be had by direct observ- 

 ation, and her store of things for study is within reach of 

 every one's observation and understanding. It is said that 

 a thing seen and described is always an original contribution 

 to thought. It is not a variety of opportunities, but only the 

 faculty of seeing, which is required to make a good observer. 

 Few men had more opportunities of observation than Euskin, 

 and yet, prefatory to a charming study of moss, he admitted 

 that although he was fifty years old he did not know what a 

 moss was. 



