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BY

NATURAL HISTORY.

LEO H. GRINDON,

Esq.,

Lecturer on Botany at the Manchester School of Medicine; Author of "Life," "Figurative Language," &c.

[A Speech delivered at the Inaugural Soiree of the Salford
Working Men's College, June 28, 1855.]

I CANNOT but admire the very good taste and judgment that has placed last upon this list of subjects Geology and Natural History-the most fitting place for them. Not that they are last in importance, but because they should crown all that has preceded, for the subjects here referred to under this general head of "Natural History," do really stand as the capital upon the summit of the column; these other useful branches are, no doubt, first, like the pedestal and the shaft, and Natural History and its adjuncts form a beautiful consummation. Or, I would compare it to that fine crimson mantle that the knights of old, in the days of chivalry, wore over their armour, something not so much for defence as for ornament, when all the previous and defensive material had been provided. All the subjects included in this heading have this peculiar recommendation, that they exercise a moral influence upon the heart of the man that cultivates them, and hence their invaluable service in any course of instruction connected with a Working Men's College, or any kind of school whatever. Some persons in Manchester think that we are excluded by the vastness of our town from the opportunities of cultivating Natural History to advantage;

whereas the brilliant success, of very many who might be named amongst the famous Lancashire naturalists in humble life, shows that no place in the county furnishes greater facilities; for no men could have laboured under greater disadvantages than old Crowther, Crozier, Horsefield, Buxton-still alive, that venerable old man in Ancoats-Carter, the possessor of the largest collection of insects in this town, and very many others who might be named. The pursuit of Natural History by these men has been urged by innate love; and despite the fact of their being working men, gaining their bread by the sweat of their brows, they have attained to a knowledge of natural science such as really might be envied by some of the best educated and most fortunately circumstanced persons. Many years ago, when Crowther, one of these Lancashire botanists, was a porter in a dye works, after his day's labour, he used to go down to Knott Mill to meet passengers who arrived by the boat on the canal, to carry their luggage for them. And I may remark, that he devoted only the sixpences that he got in this manner to the furtherance of his natural history pursuits. It is a delightful characteristic of this good old man's biography, that every penny of his wages was reserved for his wife and faithfully taken home to her, and whatever he wished to spend on his little walks and excursions, in following his pursuit of botany, was obtained solely by this after-work. Well, one day, at Knott Mill, Crowther was waiting, and a gentleman came up with his portmanteau, and wished to be shown the way to the Star Hotel. As they went along, the stranger said he was quite a new comer to Manchester, and wished to ascertain some of the best botanizing localities, and especially to find out certain curious plants. "Why," said Crowther, "that's a little in my way." "Oh, indeed," said the stranger, "and what is your way then in particular?" Crowther described to him how he spent his leisure time in

looking after insects and plants. This gentleman was the celebrated Sir James Edward Smith, author of some of our best works on botany, and he had come purposely to Manchester to ascertain some facts in scientific botany, little expecting that he should find all he wanted in this poor old Crowther, the humble ticket porter, a man who has been mentioned by Sir J. E. Smith in his letters as one of the "most accurate and skilful practical botanists of that day." I mention this to show what good service may be accomplished by a man so humble in position as Crowther.

Upon this side of Manchester you possess advantages, for those anxious to follow out the pursuit of Natural History, such as are not furnished in a similar degree upon any other side of the town. The valley of the Irwell, stretching away from Pendleton through Agecroft, and past the bridge as far as the Molyneux Junction, is certainly the most picturesque valley in the neighbourhood of Manchester, and is second only to the neighbourhood of Bowdon in the rarity and variety of its plants. On Saturday afternoon last, I was out with a large party, guided by James Percival, junior, a sizer, who lives at Prestwich, and before him I was glad to hold my tongue, so accurate did I find his knowledge in connection with plants, although he has gained it all after working hours. He took us through this valley, and showed us rare plants in the greatest variety. Upon the Stretford side of the town, in the Oxford Road Side, and upon the Ashton side, there is comparative barrenness, when you look at the fertility of the valley of the Irwell.

In particular reference to the moral influence of Natural History, just let me remark, that while other subjects tend to develope our intellectual faculties to the highest, to exercise our memory and various other faculties of the mind, Natural History seems to come home more especially to our warmer and better

nature, and to influence all our kindlier feelings, because we are brought directly into the presence of the world that GOD made. Not that I undervalue the town, or would laud the country at the expense of the town. It is quite a mistake to say that "GOD made the country, and man made the town." It is true in a certain sense, but it is a mistake if, by saying so, we mean to identify the two parts, one with humanity, the other with the Divine Nature,-because GOD made both; only when we get into the country, we find ourselves brought more completely face to face with the unmarred, purer works of the ALMIGHTY, and these from their very nature do commend themselves to our better feelings. I never knew any man yet, who might be suffering from discontent, or any of the little troubles that visit us all in turn in connection with business, go out among the birds of the valley, or seek the primroses and wild flowers innumerable in the hedges, and not come back with his spirit purified, and a more peacefully-minded man, with more encouragement and love in his heart on account of this wonderful salutary influence of nature. It is a something that cannot be defined; but let any man go out where he may see the smooth green grass stretching before him, and where the warmth of the sun and the sweet breeze will wrap round him like a garment, let him live among these things for half-anhour, and then say if he has not felt his spirit visited by some unseen influence, that has brought out feelings in him of which he was hardly conscious before, and that sends him home a better man every way, more disposed to be contented and happy. Of all the secrets in the world for the enjoyment of life, I think that the love and culture of Natural History ought to stand foremost,-I mean of things we may take up for our amusement and intellectual pursuit. There is nothing I look back upon, after a quarter of a century's experience of nature, with more pleasure than the little facts and experiences that have been

accumulating through all that time, as it were in the coffers of my intellectual bank-the property that no man can take from me; and every man may accumulate the same.

And lastly, I would refer to this other fact-that it is in cultivating this knowledge that we most effectually realise life, because life does not consist altogether in the occupations to which we devote our energies during the day, but as largely in those we attend to when business is over, or in the intervals of business. "Business must be attended to;" that is the first rule; the second is to attend to the intervals of business, which require filling up as much as the business hours themselves. A man who can count fifty birthdays, reckons life in a very meagre manner unless he has accumulated during the leisure hours and days of his life, the beautiful and animating ideas which nature supplies. We may get them from books, but we get them from nature at first hand. I love books, and would never disparage them, in regard to nature; merely observing that books and nature are a kind of reflex one of the other;—we go into the country, and read the "Book of Nature;" we go into the library, and there we read again; neither can be profitably pursued without the culture of the other. In the lecture room and class room, recollect, we must not expect too much of the teacher; the teacher is like the farmer's daughter, blythe and buxom, who comes out with her apron full of grain; and scatters it amongst the chickens; they must pick it up if any good is to be done with it: like the farmer's daughter, our teacher scatters the grain, and it is for every pupil to pick it up, and to turn it into good red, swift, energetic blood, that shall become the sound muscle and bone that alone can make him strong. What we get in the lecture room is, as it were, the index to what we have really to acquire by patient and personal observation of

nature.

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