Notices of New Books 



59e33 



inaccessible to the more technical and laboured productions of its 

 votaries. 



This reprint does not supply, but really seems to suggest, the want 

 of a methodical introduction to the science. It shows you a well- 

 stocked garden full of luscious fruit and bright flowers : the garden, 

 too, is near at hand ; you see it clearly and distinctly ; but still there 

 is around it a kind of invisible fence, which, while it hides nothing 

 within, does not permit one to enter : an entrance-gate is wanting, — 

 an entrance-gate that will admit you to the garden, that will meet the 

 oft-repeated requiring, " Oh, how how 1 should like to know the first 

 principles of the science." The ' Insect Hunters ' is this entrance- 

 gate ; it is the very work to satisfy this requiring ; and it is one of its 

 peculiar merits that it will be as easily understood by the child as by 

 the man. The instruction of children is an art, alas ! but little un- 

 derstood ; hence the necessity for such books as these, and hence 

 their great value. Children will devour its pages, and thus instruct 

 themselves ; and parents need not be ashamed to be detected in 

 learning from a book bought for their children. Let us never lose 

 sight of the fact that we are all children in knowledge with regard to 

 the unknown. Indeed, no mistake can be greater than to suppose 

 that the hard-headed, thinking man, amid all his pressing avocations 

 and cares, desires or requires that knowledge should be presented to 

 him in an abstruse or difficult form. The exact converse of this is 

 the truth. The chess-player in advancing years contents himself 

 with the backgammon board ; the mathematician and financier often 

 become confirmed novel readers : whether young or old, whether we 

 seek instruction or amusement, we like it to be presented to us in the 

 easiest and most attractive form. The anonymous author of the * In- 

 sect Hunters ' appears to be cognizant of this fact, and has been at infi- 

 nite pains to remove from his instructions all that is difficult or repul- 

 sive ; his work requires no glossary ; it needs no teacher to explain 

 its meaning ; it is in itself both glossary and teacher ; it explains 

 itself 



The style of the book will be explained to all who have studied, 

 and who has not ? Longfellow's beautiful 'Hiawatha,' when we say 

 that it is a faithful imitation of that exquisite poem. From the ' In- 

 troduction ' and * Valediction ' we cite the following passages, simply 

 to exemplify the spirit in which the work is written : we leave the 

 poetry to speak for itself : — 



" Ye who love the face of Nature, 

 111 the storm or in the sunshine. 



