i HABITS OF OBSERVATION. 



seen an elephant you have probably been astonished at 

 the size of its massive legs ; but really the leg of a little 

 fly is quite as wonderful — ^just as marvellously made, 

 and just as beautifully fitted for what it has to do. 



Very many, however, of these wonders of Nature 

 are so minute that it is quite impossible to see them 

 without the aid of a microscope. This, as probably 

 you know, is a very beautiful instrument with several 

 glasses, made and fixed in a particular way, so that 

 when you look through them at any very small 

 object, such as a fine hair, it is so magnified that it 

 looks almost as large as a walking-stick ; or it will 

 make the very small tongue of a bee appear as a long 

 thing with many joints ; or it will show you the sting 

 of a bee as large as and much more finely pointed 

 than any needle.* Again, if you take a drop of 

 water out of some ditch and put it under the 

 microscope, you will see it full of little animals, like 

 very odd-shaped fishes, swimming about and perhaps 

 eating one another, although without the microscope 

 the drop of water may appear quite clear and to have 

 nothing in it at all. 



But all the same, do not think you must have a 

 microscope to see a great many of the things of 

 which I have been speaking. Only use your eyes as 

 you walk about ; and when you see anything that 

 attracts your attention, tiy and find out, and answer 

 the questions, 'What is this.?' and 'Why is this?' 

 and 'What is its use?' You may always be sure 

 that everything in Nature has some use and serves 



* Illustrations of the tongue and sting of the bee will be seen 

 at pages 78, 82, and 83. 



