iSSg.] Days and Nights by the Sea. 417 
now revolutionizing the practice of medicine and surgery. 
Says a well-known physician " Looking into the future in 
the light of recent discoveries, it does not seem impossible that 
a time may came when the cause of every infectious disease 
will be known." . . . . " What has been accomplished within 
the past ten years as regards knowledge of the causes, preven- 
tion, and treatment of disease far transcends what would have 
been regarded a quarter of a century ago as the wildest and 
most impossible speculation." Embryology has been enriched 
by the discovery of new means of research. Some of the best 
work in physiology has been done. Darwin's theory of the 
origin of species has been tested as a working hypothesis, and 
been found fruitful in valuable results. The work of the nat- 
uralist by its application to the economic industries of the 
nation can appeal to all classes. The service of the Fish 
Commission and of the Entomological Bureau annually save 
the country from great losses, and add to its resources. Our 
valuable food fishes are artificially raised, and the depleted 
pond, river or sea coast can be stocked anew. The oyster 
can now be reared from eggs artificially fertilized, and the 
young lobster has this last year been safely transported across 
the continent, and planted on the shores of the wide Pacific. 
But the study of nature has another and less serious side, 
and here I refer to out-door nature as well as to in-door pur- 
suits. It adds pleasure to life. It gives a zest and object to 
every walk or ride which one takes in the open air, to every 
camping and hunting excursion to the woods. It lengthens 
life, or what is the same thing, our experience, because we see 
just so much more of this beautiful world. Many people think 
that science is not only difficuh but dry. This is a sad mistake. 
The scientific treatises which Charles Lamb would class with 
books that are not book, may be tedious to the beginner, but 
the student is not restricted to these or to the musty folios of 
making his acquaintance with animal and plant life. 
Techn 
s are not intended to be read but, like c 
i. they are useful to consult. 
' Botany," says Sir John Lubbock, " is by many re 
