§fe gmmj Jlatuplisf: 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History- 



No. 6. 



DECEMBER 6th, 1879. 



Vol. 1. 



CIENCE AND ART ABUSED. 



By S. D. Bairstow 



rHE misapplication of scientific 

 technicalities and usage is often 

 atry ludicrous ; and we are taught by 

 ^cperience, — the well-earned derision and 

 jMitempt of our fellows. — that error will 

 ' -ways assert itself, though clothed in 

 * arned lore, or encircled with beauty, 

 .ccuracy is the great machine of Nature, 

 [.ccuracy is the tool of the Naturalist. 

 F r e must never place an insect or a 

 lecimen in our collection unless perfectly 

 : :tisfied that the representative name is 

 Hma fide, and guaranteed. We must 

 ;.<:ercise thought and method in the 

 manipulation, that residts may be both 

 iuentifically faithful and artistically cor- 

 ijct. The arrangement, whenever it is 

 ; ]acticable, should demonstrate the 

 onoriry or life-history of the subject j 

 tiated upon. Then, and then only, may j 

 ie mere process of collecting itself reveal j 

 iw facts, and propound new theories, j 

 jp and Science are two irrevocable con- , 

 lotions. One coerces, the other assists ; 



vice versa. 



The misappropriation of 



one therefore, as applied to the other, 

 appears absurd. I was greatly amused 

 the other day whilst viewing the pictures 

 in a large provincial art gallery. Closely 

 inspecting the painting ( a pretty little 

 landscape ) of some local celebrity, I 

 noticed the introduction of several insects 

 flitting about the herbage and flowers. 

 Here was a butterfly, professedly V. afa- 

 lanfa, but in reality a medley of two 

 distinct species. The fore-wings were 

 decidedly afuJanfa, the under-wings were 

 decidedly V. io. And again, many insects 

 had been inserted which could never occur 

 simultaneously with each other. The 

 picture was worthl ess to my eyes . Recently 

 in a cheap contemporary periodical, a 

 story was told of the late Mr. McNAB, 

 curator of the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens. 

 " When Dubufe's celebrated paintings of 

 Adam and Eve were on exhibition, Mr. 

 McNab was taken to see them, and was 

 asked his opinion. 1 1 think no great 

 things of the painter,' said the renowned 

 gardener, 'Why man, Eve's tempting 

 Adam wf a pippin of a variety that was 

 na known until aboot twenty years ago!'" 

 McNab thought the picture was un-reab 

 therefore no picture. An artist is a lover 

 of Nature, (or ought to be, else he is no 



