98 
HALF HOURS WITH INSECTS. 
[Packard. 
tory. Finally, he who would content himself with a thorough 
study of the insect crust, and trace the laws of growth of the 
insect frame, the principle by which the body walls are built 
up, one part at the expense of another, and would for him¬ 
self rediscover Savigny’s law of the identity of the jaws and 
antennae with the legs, and acquaint himself with Audouin’s 
grand generalizations regarding the composition of the tho¬ 
rax, and thus study the morphology of insects—in short, he 
who would study Nature, pondering as lie walks, interrogat¬ 
ing her at each step, training himself in the philosophy of 
science, striving after a combination of the insight of the 
poet with the inductive spirit of the natural philosopher, and 
thus avail himself of one of the shortest paths (if a short 
one he must take) to self culture, would do well to devote 
the leisure of his winter to the despised and neglected bugs 
on the plants in the window. If, reader, you are incredulous 
and think this mere rhapsody, try it. In the summer we are, 
mayhap, too much diverted by the attractions which draw 
us from one side to another and distract our thoughts. In 
the winter one is forced to be' more of a specialist, and no 
one but a specialist need hope to obtain a far-reaching 
knowledge of natural phenomena. The great need of this 
country is educated specialists. We boast that everybody 
knows a little of everything. Let every one endeavor to 
learn a good deal of something. 
So, good reader, provide yourself with a microscope, a 
Zentmeyer’s student’s stand we like best, with an inch and 
a half, a one-lialf and a one-fiftli inch objective, such as Mr. 
Tolies makes, a Tolies triplet and stand for holding it, for¬ 
ceps, delicate scissors and needles mounted in handles, good 
strong eyes, a large stock of patience and fingers that are 
not all thumbs. Armed with these let us plunge into the 
wilderness of biology and follow the pioneers who have 
mapped out the path for us. Let us place an Aphis in the 
field of the microscope under the lowest powers. Remove 
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