CHAPTER IX.
Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? Job xii. 7–9
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. Psalm xix. 1, 2
THE RIGHT USE OF NATURAL HISTORY.
On a bright sunny morning in September I found myself on a lonely part of the shore about a mile from the town. I had taken the gratification of a bathe, and felt invigorated, but not wearied, with the exertion of swimming. I had come down to this part of the shore to search a particular ledge at the lowest water of spring-tide, but I had somewhat anticipated my time, as the tide had yet a full hour to recede. Compelled therefore to involuntary idleness, I laid my collecting basket on the white sand, and sat down on one of the blocks of red conglomerate, immediately under the ruins of Sandsfoot Castle, which crown the edge of the cliff, already partly fallen, and threatening, at no distant date, to descend, a mere heap of disjointed stones, upon the beach.
My thoughts began to run on the utility, the real legitimate object, of Natural History, the manner in
