80 
NATURK STUDY. 
Queer Ways of Walking. III. 
BY EDWARD J. BURNHAM. 
In his “ Wilhelm Meister,” Goethe, who was a great nat¬ 
uralist as well as a great philosopher and poet, satirically 
puts in the mouth of one of his characters a declamation 
against the study of nature. The dreadful charge is made 
that as one becomes absorbed in the contemplation of the 
beautiful and wonderful things around and above him, his 
interest in his fellowmen decreases, and, more dreadful 
Still, he comes to look upon man as of less importance in 
the vast economies of the universe than is commonly as¬ 
sumed. 
Goethe clearly perceived this tendency of nature study, 
and rejoiced in it. More than a century ago he saw that 
one who turned from study of the limitless spaces of the 
heavens or the infinite marvels revealed by the microscope, 
would view with but feeble interest the van that brought 
furniture next door, would fail to inquire why a neighbor 
had ceased to keep a carriage, and would care nothing at 
all about the fit of a stranger’s coat. As for the other part 
of the complaint, Goethe believed that a knowledge of na¬ 
ture must inevitably lead to humility. Plainly the wilder¬ 
nesses of bloom where the foot of man rarely or never 
comes, the vast stretch of waters and the teeming depths 
of ocean could not be for man alone. We know now, bet¬ 
ter than the great poet-naturalist could know in his day, 
that while a correct understanding of nature does away 
with much that is vain in our egotism it also brings us a 
calm reassurance that may wonderfully strengthen a rea¬ 
sonable confidence in ourselves. We may be humbled as 
observation shows us how small, relatively, man’s place in 
nature really is, but we may also reverently exult that 
he stands as the crowning type of the long line of develop¬ 
ment of forms of life upon the earth. The study of nature 
