52 A LIMIT TO SUITABLE TOPICS FOR CLUB-STUDY. 



why they" should. They need the recreation quite as much as husbands 

 and brothers; they can contribute facts equally worth hearing. In a 

 western city of some twenty-five thousand, people a natural-science soci- 

 ety was" started by a small circle of ladies and gentlemen, which in less 

 than half a dozen years made itself the intellectual centre of the town, 

 and exerted a constant and most wholesome influence towards the advance- 

 ment of knowledge, the habit of observation, and the cultivation of accu- 

 racy and criticism. To this success the ladies contributed quite as much 

 as the gentlemen. This society saw the various dangers and temptations 

 arising from the practice of meeting at members' houses, and early adopted 

 the better plan of meeting in a room of its own. This can generally be 

 done without expense, as a school-room, a library, or some other semi- 

 public place will be procurable, in most cases, until the society is strong 

 enough to provide its own club-room. 



Now comes the question : What topics may, and what may not, be 

 considered by such a club, for a line must be drawn. Well, this depends. 

 There are two great divisions of the sciences — the physical and the natu- 

 ral. It is doubtful whether both branches can be entertained very well 

 by a village club, at least on the same evening. In a natural history 

 society the study of geology, animal and plant life, and .prehistoric re- 

 mains of human occupation would be admissible, and nothing outside of 

 this. It is .well to remember Bishop Wilson's maxim : " Avoid as much 

 as possible a multiplicity of business." v 



It is better sometimes, even at the risk of offence, to refuse would-be 

 helpers whose zeal outruns their judgment. A collection of coins, a vol- 

 ume of autographs, curious carvings from China, or bits of tapestry from 

 Flanders, are no doubt interesting things; but these must not be allowed, 

 on the evening devoted, to natural history, to take up the time of the 

 company, who are all in earnest to tell and hear the new facts learned on 

 that topic since the previous meeting, and will look at your coins and 

 your tapestry to-morrow. Keep the club closely to its own work. 



" To doubtful matters do not headlong run; 

 What's well left off, were better not begun." 



But how shall that work be furthered ? We would suggest that liv- 

 ing objects, or at least their preserved remains, be brought to the society's 

 notice in preference merely to talk d propos of nothing. The presence 

 of some pieces of rock and a few distinct fossils from the nearest ledge ; 

 the skin of some uncommon bird or quadruped of the neighborhood ; a 

 box of moths, butterflies, or beetles, exhibiting the family representation 



