202 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



find something in his surroundings to interest and instruct 

 him." 



And further on, as illustrations of the interest in common 

 things conferred by a knowledge of the elementary laws of 

 physical science, I remark — 



"Many who marvel at the rolling thunder care not to 

 inquire what causes the sound which is heard when a tightly- 

 fitting cork is quickly drawn from a bottle, or when a whip is 

 cracked, or a pistol fired ; and while they are struck with awe 

 and admiration at the dazzling lightning, look upon the 

 sparks drawn from a cat's back on a frosty evening and the 

 slight crackle that accompanies them as being only fit to 

 amuse a child ; yet in each case the cause of the trifling and 

 of the grand phenomena are the same. He who has extended 

 his inquiries into the varied phenomena of nature learns to 

 despise no fact, however small, and to consider the most 

 apparently insignificant and common occurrences as much in 

 need of explanation as those of a grander and more imposing 

 character. He sees in every dewdrop trembling on the grass 

 causes at work analogous to those which have produced the 

 spherical figure of the earth and planets ; and in the beautiful 

 forms of crystallization on his window-panes on a frosty 

 morning he recognizes the action of laws which may also 

 have a part in the production of the similar forms of plants 

 and of many of the lower animal types. Thus the simplest 

 facts of everyday life have to him an inner meaning, and he 

 sees that they depend upon the same general laws as those 

 that are at work in the grandest phenomena of nature." 



I then pass in review the chief arts and sciences, showing 

 their inter-relations and unsolved problems ; and in remark- 

 ing on the Daguerrotype, then the only mode of photographic 

 portraiture, I make a suggestion that, though very simple, 

 has not yet been carried out. It is as follows : — 



" It would be a curious and interesting thing to have a 

 series of portraits taken of a person each successive year. 

 These would show the gradual changes from childhood to 

 old age in a very striking manner ; and if a number of such 

 series from different individuals were obtained, and a brief 



