THE FAIRY-LAND OF SCIENCE. 19 
reason only, do not complain if you find it dull, and 
dry, and hard to master. You may learn a great deal 
that is useful, and nature will answer you truthfully 
if you ask your questions accurately, but she will give 
you dry facts, jusfr such as you ask for. If you do 
not love her for herself she will never take you to her 
heart. 
This is the reason why so many complain that 
science is dry and uninteresting. They forget that 
though it is necessary to learn accurately, for so only 
we can arrive at truth, it is equally necessary to love 
knowledge and make it lovely to those who learn, and 
to do this we must get at the spirit which lies under 
the facts. What child which loves its mother's face 
is content to know only that she has brown eyes, a 
straight nose, a small mouth, and hair arranged in 
such and such a manner ? No, it knows that its 
mother has the sweetest smile of any woman living ; 
that her eyes are loving, her k,iss is sweet, and that 
when she looks grave, then something is wrong which 
must be put right. And it is in this way that those 
who wish to enjoy the fairy-land of science must love 
nature. 
It is well to know that when a piece of potassium 
is thrown on water the change which takes place is 
expressed by the formula K + H 2 O = KHO + H. 
But it is better still to have a mental picture of the 
tiny atoms clasping each other, and mingling so as to 
make a new substance, and to feel how wonderful are 
the many changing forms of nature. It is useful to 
be able to classify a flower and to know that the 
buttercup belongs to the Family Ranunculaceae, with 
C 2 
