Art Out-of-Doors 



ance. It is simply because all men of scien- 

 tific instincts have not also the aesthetic 

 instinct, and because, moreover, the pow- 

 ers of the human mind are limited, and an 

 intense absorption in one aspect of Nature 

 may leave neither time nor strength for the 

 consideration of another aspect. An inborn 

 aesthetic instinct may die by atrophy while 

 all the soul's life-blood goes to feed a scien- 

 tific instinct. 



But this is not always the case. I know 

 some professional botanists who have a 

 keener eye and a deeper feeling for Nature's 

 beauty than any amateur botanist, not to 

 say any ignoramus, whom I have ever met. 

 The scientific study of plants seems to have 

 developed their aesthetic faculties just as the 

 serious study of art develops the landscape- 

 painter's. 



Nor am I pleading for a thorough study 

 of botany — ^only for just so much knowledge 

 of it as will clarify, stimulate, direct, and 

 concentrate yet broaden the love of natural 

 beauty ; for just so much as will make us feel 

 at home amid the decorations of Nature's 

 world, and put us on friendly terms with her 



338 



