MILTON 121 PAPERS FROM THE DIAL 147 I. THOUGHTS ON MODERN LITERATURE 149 II. WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR 168 III. PRAYERS 177 IV. AGRICULTURE OF MASSACHUSETTS 183 V. EUROPE AND EUROPEAN BOOKS 187 VI. PAST AND PRESENT 197 VII. A LETTER 206 VIII. THE TRAGIC 216 NATURAL HISTORY OF INTELLECT. [Illustration: (decorative banner)] NATURAL HISTORY OF INTELLECT. I have used such opportunity as I have had, and lately[1] in London and Paris, to attend scientific lectures; and in listening to Richard Owen’s masterly enumeration of the parts and laws of the human body, or Michael Faraday’s explanation of magnetic powers, or the botanist’s descriptions, one could not help admiring the irresponsible security and happiness of the attitude of the naturalist; sure of admiration for his facts, sure of their sufficiency. They ought to interest you; if they do not, the fault lies with you. Then I thought—could not a similar enumeration be made of the laws and powers of the Intellect, and possess the same claims on the student? Could we have, that is, the exhaustive accuracy of distribution which chemists use in their nomenclature and anatomists in their descriptions, applied to a higher class of facts; to those laws, namely, which are common to chemistry, anatomy, astronomy, geometry, intellect, morals, and social life;—laws of the world? Why not? These powers and laws are also facts in a Natural History. They also are objects of science, and may be numbered and recorded, like stamens and vertebræ. At the same time they have a deeper interest, as in the order of nature they lie higher and are nearer to the mysterious seat of power and creation. For at last, it is only that exceeding and universal part which interests us, when we shall read in a true history what befalls in that kingdom where a thousand years is as one day, and see that what is set down is true through all the sciences; in the laws of thought as well as of chemistry.