38 
INTRODUCTION. 
IV. 
Serratus are frequently liung in the cottages of the poor as rude barometers, their 
hygrometric qualities, which arise from the salt they contain, indicating a change 
of weather. 
In our account of the artistic value of Alga?, we ought not to pass unnoticed the 
ornamental works which the manufacturers of “ sea- weed pictures,” and baskets of 
“ ocean-flowers,” construct from the various beautiful species of our coasts, and 
which are so well known at charity bazaars, accompanied by a much-hackneyed 
legend, commencing, 
“ Call us not weeds, we are flowers of tlie sea,” &c. 
Some of these “ works of art ” display considerable taste in the arrangement, 
and the objects themselves are so intrinsically beautiful that they can rarely be 
otherwise than attractive. During the recent pressure of Irish famine, many ladies 
in various parts of the country employed a portion of their leisure in the manufac- 
ture of these ornamental works, and no despicable sum was raised by the sale. 
Other sums, for charitable purposes, have been realized in a way which a botanist 
would deem more legitimate, by the sale of books of prepared and named specimens; 
and my friend, the Rev. Dr. Landsborough,* I am told, has in this manner collected 
money which has gone a considerable way towards building a church. There seems 
no good reason why missionaries in distant countries might not, either personally 
or through their pupils or families, collect these and other natural objects, and sell 
them for the benefit of their mission ; by which means they would not only obtain 
funds for pursuing the work more immediately committed to them, but would have 
the satisfaction of knowing that in doing so they were unfolding to the admiration 
of mankind new pages of the wide-spread volume of nature. 
Unfortunately, it happens that in the educational course prescribed to our 
divines, natural history lias no place, for which reason many are ignorant of the 
important bearings which the book of Nature has upon the book of Revelation. 
They do not consider, apparently, that both are from God — both are His faithful 
witnesses to mankind. And if this be so, is it reasonable to suppose that either, 
without the other, can be fully understood ? It is only necessary to glance at the 
absurd commentaries in reference to natural objects which are to be found in too 
many annotators of the Holy Scriptures, to be convinced of the benefit which the 
clergy would themselves derive from a more extended study of the works of 
creation. And to missionaries, especially, a minute familiarity with natural objects 
must be a powerful assistance in awakening the attention of the savage, who, after 
his manner, is a close observer, and likely to detect a fallacy in his teacher, should 
the latter attempt a practical illustration of his discourse without sufficient know- 
ledge. f This subject is too important for casual discussion, and deserves the careful 
consideration of those in whose hands the education of the clergy rests. These are 
not days in which persons who ought to be our guides in matters of doctrine 
can afford to be behind the rest of the world in knowledge ; nor can they safely 
* Author of - “A Popular History of British Seaweeds.” 
t See some excellent observations on this subject in “Foot-prints of the Creator: or, the Asterolepis 
of Stromness,” by Hugh Miller. London, 1849. 
