3i6 AN INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



the student to realize at the outset where the news 

 of zoological science is recorded, and how vast a 

 literature it affords. The student who takes the 

 advice already given, and glances over a few speci- 

 mens of this literature, will not make the mistake of 

 looking for information in popular magazine articles, or 

 of supposing that he will know the whole of Zoology 

 when the first texb-book is fairly mastered. More- 

 over, the touchstone of a student's capabilities is 

 found in his first impression, on seeing the results of 

 first-rate work, of the vast distance between his own 

 ignorance and the knowledge possessed by other 

 people. To the idler, it is a disappointing and de- 

 pressing experience : to the industrious student, on 

 the contrary, the size and grandeur of the field of 

 possible knowledge that lies in front, is an inspira- 

 tion and a delight. 



It need hardly be said, that all the advice given in 

 this chapter, is addressed to those who are not able to 

 obtain personal and systematic teaching. After taking 

 the bold step of recommending beginners to glance at 

 {not to try to study) essays such as those in the 

 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, etc., which 

 are necessarily beyond their comprehension, a word 

 of caution must therefore be added. For self-tausht 

 students it is necessary to guard against the mistake 

 which more than fifty per cent, of them make, of 

 taking up books or essays which are quite beyond 

 their comprehension, and reading on and on in a 

 brown study, without realizing that they are not 



