8 BIRDS AND MAN 



As things are, these collections help no one, 

 and their effect is confusing and in many ways 

 injurious to the mind, especially to the young. 

 A multitude of specimens are brought before 

 the sight, each and evei^ one a falsification and 

 degradation of nature, and the impression left 

 is of an assemblage, or mob, of incongruous 

 forms, and of a confusion of colours. The one 

 comfort is that nature, wiser than our masters, 

 sets herself against this rude system of overloading 

 the brain. She is kind to her wild children in 

 their intemperance, and is able to relieve the 

 congested mind, too, from this burden. These 

 objects in a museum are not and cannot be 

 viewed emotionally, as we view living forms and 

 all nature ; hence they do not, and we being 

 what we are, cannot, register lasting impressions. 



It needed a long walk on the downs to get 

 myself once more in tune with the outdoor 

 world after that distuning experience ; but just 

 before quitting the house in the Dyke Road an 

 old memory came to me and gave me some relief, 

 inasmuch as it caused me to smile. It was a 

 memory of a tale of the Age of Fools, which I 

 heard long years ago in the days of my youth. 



