THE ENTOMOLOGIST’S 
WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER. 
No. 118.] SATURDAY, JANUARY 1, 1859. [Price li. 
LIFE. 
We grow older; the opening of a new 
year forees that fact upon onr con- 
sideration. As we grow older we 
change; our tastes alter. What once 
afforded delight has now but little 
charm for us. 
Hence, no doubt, though many are 
unwilling to admit the fact, the cause 
of a decline in the energy with which 
Entomology is pursued by most of us. 
How can the sacred fire best be kept 
burning? It is lamentable, but none 
the less true, that many whose hearts 
would, ten years ago, have bounded 
tumultuously at the thought of be- 
holding a new species, now look with 
extreme lassitude and languor even on 
a dozen novelties; their zest in the 
pursuit has decreased, and, yet worse, 
they feel that it is still decreasing. 
They ask {how mounifully those only 
know who have asked the question), 
“To what purpose have I been toiling, 
striving and vexing myself these many 
years ?” 
But courage! this is not an enquiry 
made only by entomologists, — it is one 
incidental to humanity. What Cabinet 
Minister has not, some time or other, 
asked himself (he same question ? 
The labour, the acrimony, the inces- 
sant contentions, fall not merely to the 
share of the scientific student ; they 
fall to the lot of all. 
There is always some consolation in 
reflecting on the misfortunes of others, 
as each is so apt to think his fate a 
peculiarly hard one. 
In the onward progress of the career 
of any individual, a new year will 
always have a tendency to suggest 
reflections something like the fore- 
going, and knowing, as we do, how 
many are groping, as it were, for 
comfort and encouragement, we cannot 
refuse to give a few words of exhorta- 
tion and counsel. 
In the first place, the uneasy ques- 
tion, “To what purpose do I take all 
this trouble?” being one incidental to 
all occupations and pursuits, we should 
gain nothing — literally nothing what- 
ever — by changing our pursuit, and 
the very fact of our changing would, 
instead of assuaging, increase our rest- 
lessness; we should weary of the new 
love sooner than of the old one, and 
then again the process would have to 
be repeated. 
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