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164
Glaucus; Or, The Wonders of the Shore
·
Charles Kingsley
22
For
not
only
the
English
ferns,
but
the
natural
history
of
all
our
land
species,
are
now
well-nigh
exhausted.
Our
home
botanists
and
ornithologists
are
spending
their
time
now,
perforce,
in
verifying
a
few
obscure
species,
and
bemoaning
themselves,
like
Alexander,
that
there
are
no
more
worlds
left
to
conquer.
For
the
geologist,
indeed,
and
the
entomologist,
especially
in
the
remoter
districts,
much
remains
to
be
done,
but
only
at
a
heavy
outlay
of
time,
labour,
and
study;
and
the
dilettante
(and
it
is
for
dilettanti,
like
myself,
that
I
principally
write)
must
be
content
to
tread
in
the
tracks
of
greater
men
who
have
preceded
him,
and
accept
at
second
or
third
hand
their
foregone
conclusions.
But
this
is
most
unsatisfactory;
for
in
giving
up
discovery,
one
gives
up
one
of
the
highest
enjoyments
of
Natural
History.
There
is
a
mysterious
delight
in
the
discovery
of
a
new
species,
akin
to
that
of
seeing
for
the
first
time,
in
their
native
haunts,
plants
or
animals
of
which
one
has
till
then
only
read.
Some,
surely,
who
read
these
pages
have
experienced
that
latter
delight;
and,
though
they
might
find
it
hard
to
define
whence
the
pleasure
arose,
know
well
that
it
was
a
solid
pleasure,
the
memory
of
which
they
would
not
give
up
for
hard
cash.
Some,
surely,
can
recollect,
at
their
first
sight
of
the
Alpine
Soldanella,
the
Rhododendron,
or
the
black
Orchis,
growing
upon
the
edge
of
the
eternal
snow,
a
thrill
of
emotion
not
unmixed
with
awe;
a
sense
that
they
were,
as
it
were,
brought
face
to
face
with
the
creatures
of
another
world;
that
Nature
was
independent
of
them,
not
merely
they
of
her;
that
trees
were
not
merely
made
to
build
their
houses,
or
herbs
to
feed
their
cattle,
as
they
looked
on
those
wild
gardens
amid
the
wreaths
of
the
untrodden
snow,
which
had
lifted
their
gay
flowers
to
the
sun
year
after
year
since
the
foundation
of
the
world,
taking
no
heed
of
man,
and
all
the
coil
which
he
keeps
in
the
valleys
far
below.
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