178 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



got at sugar our cabinets would not 

 remain, as so many of them are now, 

 with only one sex represented. 



But sugar itself, in the meaning of 

 the term as used by entomologists, was 

 not always known, though the predelic- 

 tion of insects for sweets was known 

 to everyone. It required an entomo- 

 logist who could not only use his eyes, 

 but use his brains at the same time, to 

 try to attract insects by a saccharine 

 mixture spread for the purpose. We 

 have many a time seen at the grocer's 

 door the bluebottles assisting the 

 gamins of the neighbourhood in clear- 

 ing out a sugar cask, and who has not 

 been annoyed at the intrusion of the 

 house-fly in the sugar basin or the 

 treacle jar. But entomologists had 

 collected for many a year before it 

 occurred to Mr. Doubleday to try and 

 attract moths by means of such a bait. 

 The fact is, we see, without knowing 

 we see. We do not connect the effect 

 with the cause. We use our eyes as 

 we go along, perhaps, seeing whatever 

 there is to see, but we do not attach a 

 meaning to what we observe. The 

 desire of the moth for the star is pro- 

 verbial, but the fen ''Lighthouse" is 

 one of our most recent innovations, 

 and neither the magnesium nor the 

 electric light have yet been utilized 

 for our purpose. It was once said 

 that a proportionately large number of 

 discoveries had been made by entomo- 

 logists when they had been seated at 



lunch. The fact was that when collect- 

 ing they knew what they were looking 

 for, and, doubtless, found it ; but their 

 minds being set in that way on given 

 objects, other things were passed un- 

 noticed. At lunch their minds relaxed 

 — had no fixed object — and whatever 

 came within the reach of their vision 

 was observed and thought about, with 

 the result of new discoveries being 

 made. These desultory remarks are 

 not without a purpose, rambling as 

 they may seem. We want our young 

 readers as they move about to use 

 their eyes, of course, but we do not 

 want them to stop there. Whatever 

 they see, we want them to think about.: 

 Not to be like he of whom Wordsworth 

 wrote — 



A primrose on the river's brim 

 A yellow primrose was to him, 

 But it was nothing more. 



There is so much to learn, and we 

 know so very little, that every one can 

 add to the general store of knowledge 

 if he will. But it requires intelli- 

 gence to direct our thoughts in the 

 right channel, and without that, obser- 

 vations are useless. We do know why 

 we find sparrows in farm yards and 

 white butterfiies in cabbage gardens, 

 but do we know all there is to know 

 about these two "common objects 

 is there not knowledge without limit 

 open to us at every step if we only 

 have the eye to see and the brain to 

 think? 



