My life : a record of events and opinions - Wallace-online.org

SELF-EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, ETC. 103belonged to other orders of which I knew nothing,and as time went on I found that there were a verylargenumber of these, including many of our mostbeautiful and curious flowers, and I felt that I mustget some other book by which I could learn somethingabout these also.At length I obtained Lindley's "Elements ofBotany," which to my disappointment did not containreferences to British plants, and did not state whichorders contained British species. The woodcutsand descriptions of all the natural orders were, however,very useful, and on the broad margins of thepages, I copied the characters of the British speciesfrom Loudon's " Encyclopaedia of Plants," which Iborrowed from a friend. I was thus able to identifymost of the plants I met with.But I soon found that by merely identifying theplants I gathered in my walks I lost much time inexamining the same species several times, and eventhen not being always quite sure that I had found thesame plant before. I therefore began to form aherbarium, collecting good specimens and dryingthem carefully between drying papers and a coupleof boards weighted with books or stones. My brother,however, did not approve of my devotion to this study,even though I had absolutely nothing else to do, nordid he suggest any way in which I could employ myleisure more profitably. He said very little to me onthe subject beyond a casual remark, but a letter frommy mother showed me that he thought I was wastingmy time. Neither he nor I could foresee that it wouldhave any effect on my future life, and I myself onlylooked upon it as an intensely interesting occupationfor time that would otherwise be wasted. Even whenwe were busy I had Sundays perfectly free, and used