202 
VoL. I. 
^The Queensland Naturalist. 
Mr. J. A. Leach told us that in the Fi^ld Club in Vic- 
toria there were those who confined themselves entirely 
to one subject : one buried himself in botany, another 
only saw geologic specimens, and another’s eyes only 
sparkled at a butterfly. There is much to be said in excuse 
of this- attitude.. These separate sciences have grown so 
large that a lifetime iS needed to master, them. Our time 
is short ; opportunities are limited. If we attempt too 
much we run the risk of having a smattering of many things, 
but may be masters of none. The role of the successful 
student is to..s-tick to his own particular dejmrtment until, 
if possible, it is mastered. But one evil to be guarded 
against is the tendency to isolation, the detachment of 
a particular series of facts from their environment, and 
the overlooking of the relationship they sustain to other 
things. ^ To take the bird away from its trees and sunny 
air, and stuff it on a pedestal with a pair of glass eyes, is 
to take away its life and inspiration. To pluck the fern 
from where it quivers under the weight of its jewelled 
dew drops and dry it in a book, prisoned with strips of 
paper, is to destroy its grace and beauty. Ah ! how soon 
do thgigorgeous tints of the flower fade when ])lucked ! 
The rich ^hades of the butterfly or the colours o.f the beetle 
may not ^cl{ange so much, but still they are not the same 
as when the one alighting on the delicate petal of a flower 
without its bending, uncurled its curious tongue and ‘sipped 
the nectar from the sweet depths of the cup, or the other 
clasped the branch in its spiny feet, and peered into dark 
depths in quest of food. . The fairy little rotifers, too, ho-^ 
much they lose when prisoned in a microscopic mount. 
They are no more like theirTormer selves than the mummied 
figure of Pharoah’s daughter, is like the graceful girl whose 
laughter echoed 'among the reeds of the Eiver Tsile. Ah ! 
we 'must not lay too much stress upon our collections, 
valued though they be, but ever rise above them to the 
relationships they s.ustained and the work they fulfilled, 
so as to grasp, the, larger views of far-reaching connexions. 
. This pre-supx>oses that we each have' some acquain- 
tance with the sciences that enter into the life of our Club. 
The^ knowledge- need not be very extensive, but it, piust 
be sufficient to enable us to grasp intelligently tire objects 
ppinted out to ,u,s iii qur work. ,\\lien Professor Skertchly 
lea-ds us to', the accumulations o,f^ gravel at Sherwood and 
declares that they, are the evidences of glacial action, and 
that once huge mountains of ice, slid oyer the ground upon 
w'hich w^e now' stand (a consummation which we only wish 
in the sultry days might occur againb, or points ip 
Petrie’sv-Qnnruy /Certain ' yolcanic action, ^ . we 
do not Avarit to believe it on hi,^;. authority onjy, -.but^^Yq 
should have sufficient knowledge of geologic facts so as 
