BEGINNINGS IN SCIENCE AT MUGBY SCHOOL. 57 



then, except astronomy, was more or less speculation. Nobody 

 would call Linnseus's system of botany a science, although it was 

 very useful and introductory ; nor was geology, zoology, nor chem- 

 istry. Scientists had only been playing, like children, in the vesti- 

 bule of the great temple. It may be that we ourselves have not 

 advanced far within the precincts — at least those who study these 

 subjects a hundred years hence may think so. But, at any rate, 

 the amount of knowledge extant concerning the world in which 

 we live, and its ancient and modern inhabitants, is vast compared 

 with what it was when the present century commenced. 



At Mugby School, science was an important and also a welcome 

 subject. How welcome it was is best indicated by the fact that the 

 boys got up a Natural History Society among themselves. This 

 was really a self-imposed task, done out of school-hours. Some of 

 the principal teachers encouraged the lads by becoming members ; 

 not that they knew much of natural history or scientific subjects 

 (some of them, indeed, knew nothing at all, and actually learned 

 a good deal from the boys themselves). 



Of course, the society was founded on the best models. It was 

 not a bit behind the famous " Royal Society of London " in its 

 equipment. It had its president and vice-president, and its com- 

 mittee were called "the 

 council." It also published, 

 for the world's benefit, ab- 

 stracts of the short papers 

 the boys read — the ab- 

 stracts being nearly as 

 long as the papers. Al- 

 though its members were 

 not numerous, they felt 

 they bore the weight of 

 the dignity of the society 

 on their shoulders ; and, 

 as they were too boyish- 

 manly to be priggish, the 

 training did them no harm. 



Well, the society was 

 divided into sections. One 

 section was appointed to 

 collect the plants of the 

 neighborhood — that is, those obtainable during the school half- 

 holidays ; another to collect butterflies and moths ; a third, bee- 

 tles ; a fourth, birds ; a fifth, fossils, etc. They were to publish 

 lists of the plants, birds, insects, and fossils of the district in the 

 " Society's Proceedings " ; for, of course, the latter was the name 

 given to the abstracted papers. 



VOL. XXXT. 4* 



Fig. 1.— Scale of Chub. 



