Art Out-of-Doors 
ance. It is simply because all men of scien- 
tific instincts have not also the aesthetic 
instinct, and because, moreover, the pow- 
ers of the human mind are limited, and an 
intense absorption in one aspect of Nature 
may leave neither time nor strength for the 
consideration of another aspect. An inborn 
aesthetic instinct may die by atrophy while 
all the soul’s life-blood goes to feed a scien- 
tific instinct. 
But this is not always the case. I know 
some professional botanists who have a 
keener eye and a deeper feeling for Nature’s 
beauty than any amateur botanist, not to 
say any ignoramus, whom I have ever met. 
The scientific study of plants seems to have 
developed their aesthetic faculties just as the 
serious study of art develops the landscape- 
painter’s. 
Nor am I pleading for a thorough study 
of botany — only for just so much knowledge 
of it as will clarify, stimulate, direct, and 
concentrate yet broaden the love of natural 
beauty ; for just so much as will make us feel 
at home amid the decorations of Nature’s 
world, and put us on friendly terms with her 
333 
