Long as we have known how useful honey was to the bee, and how it could only get it from flowers, yet it was not till quite lately that we have learned to follow out Sprengel's suggestion, and to trace the use which the bee is to the flower. But now that we have once had our eyes opened, every flower teaches us something new, and we find that each plant adapts itself in a most wonderful way to the insects which visit it, both so as to provide them with honey, and at the same time to make them unconsciously do it good service.

And so we learn that even among insects and flowers, those who do most for others, receive most in return. The bee and the flower do not either of them reason about the matter, they only go on living their little live^ as nature guides them, helping and improving each other. Think for a moment how it would be, if a plant used up all its sap for its own life, and did not give up any to make the drop of honey in its flower. The bees would soon find out that these particular flowers were not worth visiting, and the flower would not get its pollen-dust carried, and would have to do its own work and grow weakly and small. Or suppose on the other hand that the bee bit a hole in the bottom of the flower, and so got at the honey, as indeed they sometimes do ; then she would not carry the pollen-dust, and so would not keep up the healthy strong flowers which make her daily food.

But this, as you see, is not the rule. On the contrary, the flower feeds the bee, and the bee quite unconsciously helps the flower to make its healthy seed. Nay more ; when you are able to read all that has been written on this subject, you will find that we have good reason to think that the flowerless plants of the Coal Period have gradually put on the beautiful colours, sweet scent, and graceful shapes of our present flowers, in consequence of the necessity of attracting insects, and thus we owe our lovely flowers to the mutual kindliness of plants and insects.

And is there nothing beyond this 1 Surely there is. Flowers and insects, as we have seen, act without thought or knowledge of what they are doing ; but the law of mutual help which guides them is the same which bids you and me be kind and good to all those around us, if we would lead useful and happy lives. And when we see that the Great Power which rules over our universe makes each work for the good of all, even in such humble things as bees and flowers ; and that beauty and loveliness come out of the struggle and striving of all living things ; then, if our own life be sometimes difficult, and the struggle hard to bear, we learn from the flowers that the best way to meet our troubles is to lay up our little drop of honey for others, sure that when they come to sip it they will, even if unconsciously, give us new vigour and courage in return.

9 And now we have arrived at the end of those subjects which we selected cut of the Fairy-hind of Science. You must not for a moment imagine, however, that we have in any way exhausted our fairy domain ; on the contrary, we have scarcely explored even the outskirts of it. The " History of a Grain of Salt/' " A Butterfly's Life," or " The Labours of an Ant,'* would introduce us to fairies and wonders quite as interesting as those of which we have spoken in these Lectures. While "A Flash of Lightning,'' " An Explosion in a Coal-mine," or " The Eruption of a Volcano,'* would bring us into the presence of terrible giants known and dreaded from time immemorial.

But at least we have passed through the gates, and have learnt that there is a world of wonder which we may visit if we will ; and that it lies quite close to us, hidden in every dewdrop and gust of wind, in every brook and valley, in every little plant or animal. We have only to stretch out our hand and touch them with the wand of inquiry, and they will answer us and reveal the fairy forces which guide and govern them ; and thus pleasant and happy thoughts may be conjured up at any time, wherever we find ourselves, by simply calling upon nature's fairies and asking them to speak to us. Is it not strange, then, that people should pass them by so often without a thought, and be content to grow up ignorant of all the wonderful powers ever active in the world around them ?

Neither is it pleasure alone which we gain by a study of nature. We cannot examine even a tiny sunbeam, and picture the minute waves of which it is composed, travelling incessantly from the sun, without being filled with wonder and awe at the marvellous activity and power displayed in the infinitely small as well as in the infinitely great things of the universe. We cannot become familiar with the facts of gravitation, cohesion, or crystallization, without realizing that the laws of nature are fixed, orderly, and constant, and will repay us with failure or success according as we act ignorantly or wisely ; and thus we shall begin to be afraid of leading careless, useless, and idle lives. We cannot watch the working of the fairy " life " in the primrose or the bee, without learning that living beings as well as inanimate things are governed by these same laws of nature ; nor can we contemplate the mutual adaptation of bees and flowers without acknowledging that it teaches the truth that those succeed best in life who, whether consciously or unconsciously, do their best for others.

And so our wanderings in the Fairy -land of Science will not be wasted, for we shall learn how to guide our own lives, while we cannot fail to see that the forces of nature, whether they are apparently mechanical, as in gravitation or heat ; or intelligent, as in living beings, are one and all the voice of the Great Creator, and speak to us of His Nature and His Will.

Index

Affelsberg STALACTITE GROTTO, 116
Aerial ocean, 5i» 70
Agassiz on ** erratic blocks," 122
Air, bad, in close rooms, 54 carrying water-vapour, 74, 7S, 93 elasticity of, 57 Its pressure on the earih, 60 made of two gases, 52 rising of hot, 68 weight of, 58
Air-atoms forming waves o- sourd, 130
Air-bubbles bursting in waves, I43
Air-currents, cause of, 67
Albuminoids, 154, 160
Almond-seed, 153
Alum Bay Chine, 109
Ammonia in air, 55
Anaxagoras on size of the snn, 29
Antarctic Continent, snowliclds of, 93
Anthers of stamens, 164 bursting of, J 66
Aqueous vapour, whence it comes, 77
Arbroath, waste of cliffs at, 117
Ariel's song, 5
Afcnosphere causing the spread of light, 71
Atmosphere, height of, weight of, 60-66
Aurora borealis, 52, 71
Avalanche, noise of, 147
Balloon ascents, 58
Balls illustratmg sound-waves, I2g
Barometer and its action, 64-66
J>ee-bread, 202
Bee, pollen-masses on head of, 233
P<^es and flowers useful to eacl other, 235 and orchids, 231 — cementing dead bodies, 210 fef'ding of, 203, 205 Huber on, 195 length of life of, 210 nursing, 199 sentinel, 209 swarming, 196, 206, 207 ventilating- 209 visit one set; of flowers at a time, 214, 224 worker, quee»v and drone, 1^7 young princess, 205
Beetles, timber-bori.ig^. 148
Biot, Professor, on sou;^d in tubes, 132
Biid's-foot trefoil, structure of, 229
Birds, trill of, 148
Bischof, on lime m River Rhine, 106
Blackgang Chine, 109
Rones of the ear, 1 38
Bonn, solid matter carried past,
Breathing and burning, 54
Brood-comb of bees, 204
Brook, song of the, 143
Burning and breathing, 54
Buttercup, honey-glands in, 215
Buxton, Poole's Cavern, near, 115
Calamites of the coal, 18 j
Calyx, use of, 163
Canons of Colorado, ill
Carbon in plants, 1 58 in sugar, 1 59
Carbonate of lime crystals, 115
Carbonic acid in air, 55
Cardboard of colours, revolvini?
Carruthers, Mr., cited, 178, 18).
Caverns, stalactitic, 115
Oaves on sea-shore, Ii8
Cells of a plant, 154 of bees, 200
— Chemical action, 12, 16, 53
Chalk-builders, 4, 97 rays, 48
Chlorophyll in leaves, 158
Cissy and the drops, 14
City of the bees, 193
Clerk-Maxwell on ether, 35
Clouds, how formed, 75, 78
Club-moss and coal-plants, 1 79
Coal, a piece of, 172 essences from, 190 imprisoned fairies in, 1 its growth and purity, 187- 185 oils, tar, and gas of, 189 ball, contents of a, 178 fields of England, 187 -forest, picture of a, 180
— -gas, making of, 188 -mine, section of a, 174
Coal-plants, what they have dene for us, 190
106 Cobwebs and dewdrops, 84
Cochlea of ear, 139
Cocoon of bees, 203, 205
Cohesion and its work, 8, 12, 80
Coke, 188
Colorado canons, in
Colour, bees distinguish, 216
Colours, cause of, 44 revolving disk of, 41
Coral, Huxley on, 21 picture of, 20 -island, 23
Corolla, use of, 166
Corti's organ, 140
Country, sounds of the, 126
i*- Crevasses, 120
—— a fairy force, 10
Crystallization, 87, 89
~ ^— how they form, 89
Crystals in sugar-candy, 86 in many substances, S7
-—- of sea-salts, 96 of snow, 89
Cumberland, rain in, 81
—— closmg in rain, 218
Daisy, opening of the, 217
D&r\yin, Mr., cited, 231-233
Dead-nettle, structure of the, 223
Deltas, 114
Deposition of mud, 113
Dew, kow formed, 83 artificial, 84
Distillation of water fxf^ui seas, 92
Drones, slaughter ofj ^o^
Ear, constnicvion ot the. 136 stones, 139
Earth, its size con^pATed to the sun, 29
Earth-pillars, picture of, 102
Earth's state if there were no sun, 28
Echoes, 133, 144
Eggs, laying of queen-bee, 205
Enemies of bees, 209 of plants, 219
Equisetum, or horse-tail, l8l
Erratic blocks, 122
Ether, waves of the, 35-82
Eustachian tube, 137
Evaporation from rivers and seas, 77
Evening primrose, insects visiting, 218
Eye, light- waves entering, 38-41
Fairies, or forces of nature, 6-12
Fairy ** Life," 169
Fairy-tales and science, 2
Flowers bright to attract insects, 216 times of opening of, 217
Food of a plant, 156
Frost bursting water-pipe^, 91 breaking up the fluids, 1 18
Ganges Delta, 114
Gas^ definition of a, 15 in coal, 188
Gay-Lussac's balloon ascent, 58
Gtikie, Mr., cited, 1 17
Geneva, mud in lake of, 121
Geranium, fertilization ot, 220 sylvr.ticum, 221 of the garden, 222
Glacial Period, 122
Glaciers, 94, II blocks carried by, 1 22
Giaisher's balloon ascent, 58, 62
God in nature, 25
Graphite, hardened by pressure, 187
Grass, dew forming on, 83
Gravesend. mud-banks at, I14
Gravitation and its work, 8, 12 I
Great Dismal Swamp, America, 183
Greenland, glaciers of, 119 snow-fields of, 93 vapour carried from, 79
Gulf of Mexico, vapour carried \ip from, 78
Hailstones, how formed, 85
Hard water, 95
Hartshorn, spirits of, 55
Heat, a fairy force, 8 cut off by water-vapour, 82 necessary to turn water inio vapour, 92 of the sun, 32 work done by, 45 imprisoned in coal, 46 of our bodies, 46
Helpfulness, mutual, of insects and flowers, 235
Herschel, Sir J., on the sun, 32
Hive-bee, forming cells, 200
Hives, ventilation of, 209 bees cementing cracks in, 197
Hoar-frost, 90
Honey, carried by bee, 20 secreted by flowers for bees, 215 use of, to the primrose, 167
Honeysuckle, scent at night, 218
Hooker, Sir J., on rainfall, 80
Horse-tails and calamites, i8l
Huber on bees, 195
Huxley, Mr., on coral, 21 cited, 104
Huyghens on light, 34
• — purity of, 95
Ice, formed of pressed snow, 93 sculpturing power of, 1 19 water- flowers in, 91
Icebergs, 94
Imagination in science, J
Indian Ocean, vapour earned up from, 77
Insects attracted by scent and colour, 217 buzzing of, 1 47 visiting the primrose, 167
Iron, use of in leaves, 157 worked in Sussex, 191
Ives, Lieut., on Canons, 112
Jar, resonance in a, 145
Judd, Professor, cited, 176
Kentucky, Mammoth Cave of, 1 16
Kettle, crust in a, 105 vapour rising from a, 75
Khasia Hills, rain in, 80
Lace, photographed during lecture, 48
Lake-district, rain in the, 81
Land-breeze and sea-breeze, 69
' Landslips, 103
Lamium album, 223
Larva of bees, 203
Laws of nature, 24
Leather wetted, lifting a weight, 62
Leaves, oxygen-bubbles rising from, 158 stomates in, 161 the stomach of a plant, 161
Lepidodendrons, trees of coal, 1 78, 180, 182
Life of a plant, 170
Light, coloured spectrum of, 39 dark and light bands of, 37 of the sun, 31
-~- effect of, on plants, 45
— reflection of, 43 scattered by particles in air, 7'
Lii;lit -waves ei taring the eye, 38
Light-waves, size of, 38
Lightning, 52, 71
Lime, carbonate of, petrifying, 115
Limpet clinging to a rock, 62
Liquid, definition of a, 15
Lines in flowers, 222
Llanberis Pass, 122
Looking-glass, cause of reflection in» 43
Lotus corniculatus, 229
Lubbock, Sir J., cited, 216, 227
Lycopodium like coal-plants, 179
Lyme Regis, landslip of, 103
Magnets, attraction and repulsion of, 88
Martineau, Miss C, on echoes, 134
Mediterranean, vapour carried up from, 78
Mercury, action of, in a barometer, 6s
Metal reflecting light, 43
Meteors, height of atmospherr shown by, 59
Mississippi delta, 114
Moraines, 120
Mountains causing rainfall, 80
Mouse breathing in bell-jar, 54
Mud in river-water, 105
Musical notes, 140, 142
Nasturtium and the bee, 222
Nature and her laws, 24 — love of, 19
Neath Colliery, fossils from, 175
Newton on light, 34
Niagara Falls, 1 09-1 11
Nile plain and delta, 1 1
Nitre crystals, how to uiake, 87
Nitrogen in air, 53
Nodules in coal, 177
Noise and music, 140
Norfolk, Virginia, Dismal Swamp in, 183
Notes of music, 142
— oils in coal, 188, 189
OfL, its heat and light, 47 in plants, 154, 159, 189
Orange-cells, 154
Orchis mascula, its structure, 231
Otoliths, or ear-stones, 139
Oxygen in air, 53
O/ules of plants, 163
Pan-pipes, 145
Paper, pressure of air on square inch of, 60
Paraffin from coal, 1F9
Peat, formation of, 184
Petrifactions, 1 15
Pelargoniums, 222
Pennine Hills causing rainfall. Si
Peter Bell on a primrose, 7
Phosphoric acid, 53
Phosphorus burning in air, 53
Photography, 47
Pimpernel, closing for rain, 217
Plant-cells, 15$
Plant, food of a, 156 water rising in a, 157
Plants absorbing rain, 81 annual and perennial, 16 contrivances for proleclion in, 219 effect of light on, 45 fertilized by wind, 215 in a coal-mine, 1 74 light and heat imprisoned in,
—— 169 -remains in coal-nodules, 177
Poker, sound of a vibrating, 128
— Pollen-dust carried by bees, 215 of flowers, 227, 229
Pollen, gathering of, 201 use of, 164
Pollinia of an orchis, 231
Polyps, coral, 21
Poolers Cavern, 115
Popgun, compressing air in, 57
Potash formed, 17
Potassium in water, 16
Pot-holes, 109
Pressure, making coal hard, 187
Primrose, corolla falling off, 167
Protoplasm, 155 green granules of, 157
Primrose, the life of a, 150 two forms of, 163
Princess-bees, slaughter of, 208
Prism giving coloured light, 39
Propolis, or bee-cement, 297
Queen-bee, flight of, 202 laying eggs, 203
Queenstown, cliffs at, 1 10
Rain, causes of, 79, 80 fairies working in, 8 fall of barometer before, 66
Ravine worn by water, 107
Reflection of light, 43
Resonance in a jar, 145
Rhine, amount of lime carried by, 106
Roches moutonnees, 121
Rock hurled by waves, 117
St. John's Wood, explosion in, 133
St. Paul's railings of Sussex iron, 191 , Niagara falls only half the height of, ICQ
Salvia, bee entenng the, 225
Sap of plants, 157
Scent of flowers attracts insects,
— Science, fairy-tales of, 2 217 how to study, 18
Sculptors, water and ice, 99, 1 58
Sea- breeze and land-breeze, 69
Sea washing away land, 1 10 why salt, 96 what becomes of solid matter in, 97
Seeds, how formed, 165 oils in, 189
Selaginella, figure of, 179
Shale, piece of, with plants, 175
Shelley, cited, 143
Shell, music of the, 146
Sigillaria, 176, 180
Snow, cause of whiteness of, 90 fairies working in, 9
Snow-crystals, 90
Snow-drop fairies, lO
Snowfields, 93
Snow-flakes, crystallization of, 89
— Sound, globes of, 132
Solid, definition of a, 15 its nature, 127 reflection of, 133
Sounds of town and country, 125-° 127
Sound-waves, 131
South Ouram, coal-nodules at, 177
Spectrum, coloured, 39
Sphinx hawk-moth visiting honey- suckle, 218
Spores of club-moss, 179 in coal, 178, 180
Sprengel on insects and floweis, 220, 226, 234
Springs, 93 mineral, 95
Stalactites, 115
Stalagmites, 116
Stamens of a flower, 164
Starch in plants, 154, 159
—— twinkling of, 7
Stars, light of the, 36
Stigma of a flower, 165
Stigmas of orchids, 231
Stigmaria root, 175
Stomates in leaves, 161
StricX made by ice, 121, 122
Sugar, carbon in, 159
— candy crystals, 86
Sun, distance of the, 29
-— size of the, 29
—— heat and light of, 32
— Sunbeams, 27, 42
—— causing colour, 44
— ca ising wind, 68
— bow few reach the earth. 33
—- made of many colours, 40
~ rate at which they travel, 38 turning water to va; our, 74, 77
Sunrise, 27
Su sex, iron worked in, 191
Swamp, Great D.smal 183
Swarming of bees, 196, 206
Switzerland, glaciers of, 119 — snow and ice in, 93
Tar from coal, 189
Tennyson's * In Memoriam * cited,
192— poem of a flower, 152
Thames, drainage of, 104 mud-banks, 1 14
Thunder, noise of, 146
Trade-Winds, 69
Treacle and water mixing thro gh a membrane, 157
Trees of the coal-forest, 180
Trefoil, structure of flower of, 229
Tumbler of water inverted, 63
Tuning-forks vibrating, Water-pipes,
Turin, moraines near, 120
Twinkling of stars, 71 Water-vapour
Tymp mum of the ear, 137
Tyndall, Dr., cited, 75, 87, 91, Waves, 128, 144
rNDERCLAYS of COal, I 76
Undercliff, Isle of Wight, 103
Undulatory theory of light, 33-35
Vibration of tuning-forks, 142
Violet, structure of the, 227
Wy.LES, rain in, 81
Water, cutting power of, 105-112 -hard," 95 heat required to vaporize, 92 how it rises in a plant, 157 in U tube kept up by pressure, solid matter dissolved in, 105
\V at(T-dust, 75
VAaicrfalls, how formed, 108
Waier-llowers in ice, 91
cause of bursting of^ invisible, 75, 77 screening the sun's heat, 82 noise of the, 143, 144 of light measured, 37 of sound crossing each oth'iT, 135
Wave-theory of light, 33-35
Wax, plate of in hive, 198 formation of, 199
Weight and pressure of air, 58, 60 barometer measuring, 64-66
Wheel revolving to make musica' note, 141
Williams, Mr. T., cited, 176
Wind, cause of, 67 noise of the, 144-146 fertilizing plants, 216
Winds, land and sea, 69 , trade-, 69
Woodstock Park, echoes in, ly^
W^ork of the sunb# ^ms, 42
Young, Dr., cited 189

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