XI 



THE LITERARY TREATMENT OF 

 NATURE 



THE literary treatment of natural history themes 

 is, of course, quite different from the scientific 

 treatment, and should be so. The former, compared 

 with the latter, is like free-hand drawing compared 

 with mechanical drawing. Literature aims to give 

 us the truth in a way to touch our emotions, and in 

 some degree to satisfy the enjoyment we have in the 

 living reality. The literary artist is just as much in 

 love with the fact as is his scientific brother, only he 

 makes a different use of the fact, and his interest in 

 it is often of a non-scientific character. His method 

 is synthetic rather than analytic. He deals in gen- 

 eral, and not in technical truths, — truths that he 

 arrives at in the fields and woods, and not in the 

 laboratory. 



The essay-naturalist observes and admires ; the 

 scientific naturalist collects. One brings home a 

 bouquet from the woods; the other, specimens for 

 his herbarium. The former would enlist your sym- 

 pathies and arouse your enthusiasm ; the latter 

 would add to your store of exact knowledge. The 

 191 



