The Beauty of Minute Structure in Nature ¹

Abstract

ONE of the many vvays of beginning the study of natural science is with a “beauty-feast ”—of flowers or birds, of shells or gems, of anything—for all natural things are beautiful, in their proper setting at least. It is an old-fashioned mode of approach, commending itself to children and simple minds, but one which often leads far beyond æsthetic pleasure to the joy of understanding. It affords a dynamic to investigation, and fosters a healthy reverence for things. In school “naturestudy” the æsthetic factor should be characteristic, though it is too often conspicuous by its absence. Indeed, if we had to choose, we should prefer admiration without science to science without admiration. But a simple book like that before us shows that there is no necessary antithesis; it is a disclosure of beautiful things, and yet within its limits it is quite scientific.