I ,
M
446
favour me with th e ir communications, and assist them in the
determination of the productions of th e localities in which
th ey reside.
Apart from the interest attached to the examination of the
individual species, there is a source of pleasure in the additional
interest which is imparted to our rambles : each spot
that we pass is rendered doubly interesting — is almost hallowed
— by the recollection of its being the place in which we
first became acquainted with some rare or new production,
which at the time awakened our curiosity, stimulated inquiry,
and elicited admiration.
I cannot do better than conclude these few remarks in the
appropriate language of the eloquent Vaucher : —
“ I fear n o t to propose similar occupations to all men who
have a taste for observation, and who love th e beauties of
nature. I f th e ir position and th e ir fo rtu n e permits them
some leisure, th ey cannot employ it more happily. W h e n ever
n a tu ra l history has a fixed purpose, and th a t some
object of stu d y is made choice of, th e labours to which Ave
submit ourselves become more agreeable, and a t th e same
time more useful. Those botanists Avho shall make discoveries
in this science, Avhich presents so vast a field, no t
only Avill experience a real pleasure, b u t moreover th ey will
preserve the remembrance of it. E a ch time th a t th e y approach
th e place which has been th e th e a tre of them, it Avill
recal to them th e objects Avith Avhich it is associated. F o r
myself I avow th a t I see n o t Avithout in te re st th e place
Avhere I perceived for th e first time th e floating seeds of my
ectospermes, n or th a t Avhere I obtained th e network of th e
hydrodictyon in its first development. The species of Confervæ
even Avhich I have long visited, and th e fructification
o f Avhich I have ascertained b u t Avith difficulty, inspire in me
a k in d of a ttachmen t Avhich I feel more th a n I am able to
express. I love to see spring u p and develope themselves
near me those species Avith Avhich I am, so to speak, in acquaintance.
I experience some pain if I know th a t any
one of them come to be destroyed. This acquaintance
Avhich I have acquired seems to me a kind of empire Avhich
I desire still to extend : I say to myself sometimes, Avhen
shall I quit the environs of Geneva ? When shall I behold
the borders of the sea? the Mediterranean, the Ocean?
th a t wandering Conferva of Avhich Linnæus speaks, which
floats upon the sea as our Conjugatæ float upon the Avaters ?
I do not believe that elscAvhere a happier kind of life is to
be found, nor that Society furnishes to men more real pleasures
than Nature affords to those who love her.”