Let us take, for example, the study of nature. No science, assuredly, ought to prove more attractive to the mind than natural history. Yet mark how repulsive zoology, botany, and mineralogy are made at the very outset, by the dryness of their nomenclatures and the dreariness of their classifications. Undoubtedly, it is necessary to lay down a course of study in the midst of the marvels which everywhere surround us; undoubtedly names are required for the objects which attract our notice. But are not the methods we employ directly opposed to the end we set before ourselves?
I address myself to parents and teachers; and I say to them, Do you wish to inculcate a love of science, and yet put into the hands of your children or pupils books which differ as widely from the book of nature as human brotherhood—(a fiction!)—differs from universal gravitation? Instead of familiarising us at first with the animals and plants within our everyday reach, you collect, under the same irrevocable iron "form," genera and species never intended to meet in any one particular zone, and many of which are so rare that few persons will ever be fortunate enough to see them except in collections and engravings. And, curious to state, the rarest species nearly always obtain your preferences; judging, at least, from the minute descriptions which you consecrate to them. Monstrous absurdity! You seek at a distance that which lies close to your hands, as if the Everyday Objects above, beneath, and around, were unworthy of the science you profess.
But here we must pause. Upon the principles thus laid down by M. Hoefer, have been founded the two unpretending companion volumes, of which the second is now submitted to the lenient judgment of the public.
W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS.
CONTENTS.
———◇———
BOOK I.—WINTER. | ||
|---|---|---|
| CHAP. | PAGE | |
| I. | [What may be Seen in the Heavens]:— | |
| The Number of the Stars, | [4] | |
| The Great Bear and the Little Bear, | [8] | |
| Orion, | [13] | |
| Diurnal Movement, | [15] | |
| Determination of the Cardinal Points, | [17] | |
| II. | [What may be Seen upon the Earth]:— | |
| The Snow, | [32] | |
| Red Snow, | [39] | |
| The Eternal Snow, | [44] | |
| The Inhabitants of the Eternal Snows, | [48] | |
| The Arvicola Leucurus, | [49] | |
| The Marmot, | [53] | |
| The Chamois, | [56] | |
| The Eagle and the Wren, | [57] | |
| The Snow Bunting, | [66] | |
| The Red-billed Crow, | [68] | |
| Reptiles, | [70] | |
| Inferior Animals, | [71] | |
| Herbaceous Plants which best endure the Cold of Winter, | [75] | |
| The Dog Mercury, | [77] | |
| The Garden Nightshade, | [82] | |
| The Dog's-tooth Grass, | [88] | |
BOOK II.—SPRING. | ||
| I. | [What may be Seen in the Heavens]:— | |
| The Earth's Figure is seen in the Sky as in a Mirror, | [102] | |
| II. | [What may be Seen on the Earth]:— | |
| Causes of the Circulation of the Sap, | [132] | |
| The Daisy, | [138] | |
| The Tulip, | [152] | |
| The Heliotrope, | [156] | |
| The Anemones, | [157] | |
| The Arum, | [161] | |
| The Ranunculaceæ, | [165] | |
| The Wood-louse, | [169] | |
| The Dragon-flies, | [174] | |
BOOK III.—SUMMER. | ||
| I. | [What may be Seen in the Heavens]:— | |
| The Adumbrated Sphere, | [191] | |
| II. | [What may be Seen on the Earth]:— | |
| The Perianth, | [208] | |
| The Calyx, | [208] | |
| The Corolla, | [223] | |
| The Prunella, | [230] | |
| The Scutellaria, | [235] | |
| The Lilies, | [241] | |
| The Gentians, | [250] | |
| An Alpine Excursion, | [256] | |
| The Pimpernel, | [260] | |
| The Mole—The Staphylinus—The Mole Cricket, | [265] | |
| The Earwig, | [278] | |
BOOK IV.—AUTUMN. | ||
| I. | [What may be Seen in the Heavens]:— | |
| The Circle, and the uniform Movement of the Stars (according | ||
| to the Theory of the Ancients destroyed by Kepler), | [289] | |
| The Solar Constitution, | [292] | |
| Result of recent Astronomical Researches, | [296] | |
| II. | [What may be Seen on the Earth]:— | |
| Chemical action of Light, | [312] | |
| Action of Heat, | [313] | |
| Arable Land, | [318] | |
| Mushrooms or Agarics, | [325] | |
| The Number of Vegetable Species distributed over the whole | ||
| Surface of the Globe, | [337] | |
| The Harvest Bug, | [349] | |
| The Cheese Mite, | [354] | |
| The Number of Animal Species distributed over the whole | ||
| Surface of the Globe, | [356] | |
| What is Chlorophyll? | [366] | |
| Carnations and Pinks, | [371] | |
| The Eglantine and the Convolvulus, | [379] | |
| Metamorphosis: a Physico-philosophical Meditation, | [384] | |
| Appendix, | [405] |