A Word for Books 
makes his essays often truly pathetic, and 
in their pathos lies a plain lesson for others. 
The best of his words to remember are : 
Once you wish to identify plants there is 
nothing escapes ; and to these everyone 
who has seriously tried to identify plants 
will add : They can be identified only by a 
study of botany ; no study is more pleasur- 
able; and none is easier up to the point 
where the mere lover- of natural beauty may 
be content to abandon it. 
Materials for the study of botany are 
everywhere at hand ; no travelling is need- 
ed, and no great exertion. The essential 
tools are few and cheap. A couple of vol- 
umes, like Gray’s “ Manual ” and “ Hand- 
book,” will give all needful introductory 
knowledge, full descriptions of all plants 
within a very wide area, and a glossary of 
terms to assist weak memories. With a 
knife, a long pin, and a common magnify- 
ing-glass the student has all he wants, unless 
he wants to end by being really a botanist. 
A few weeks of work with living things to 
illustrate the printed text — and of work 
which will seem quite like play — and any- 
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