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[194]
The old love for natural history survived, and I undertook again the microscopic work which I had begun in Newburyport under the guidance of an accomplished biologist, Dr. Henry C. Perkins.
He had also introduced me to the works of Oken and Richard Owen; and I had written for the Christian Examiner (July, 1852) a paper called “Man and nature,” given first as a lyceum lecture, which expressed something of that morning glow before sunrise which existed after the views of Goethe and Oken had been made public, but when Darwin's great discoveries were yet to be achieved.
In Worcester I did a great deal in the way of field observation, and organized, with Hale and others, the local Natural History Society, one branch of which, the botanical club, still bears my name.
I also read many books on anthropology, and wrote for the “Atlantic” various essays on kindred themes, which were afterwards published in a volume as “Out-door papers.”
The preparation for this work gave that “enormity of pleasure,” in Wordsworth's phrase, which only the habit of minute and written observation can convey; and I had many happy days, especially in the then unprofaned regions of Lake Quinsigamond.
With all this revived the old love of athletic exercises: I was president of a gymnastic club, a
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