An organizing principle for Scanners

In the land of Hearsay, Tom (the hero of The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, serialized in England in the 1860's) meets a giant who is also a naturalist: 'He was made up principally of fish bones and parchment, put together with wire and Canada balsam; and smelt strongly of spirits, though he never drank anything but water; but spirits he used somehow, there was no denying it. He had a great pair of spectacles on his nose, and a butterfly net in one hand, and a geological hammer in the other; and was hung all over with pockets, full of collecting boxes, bottles, microscopes, telescopes, barometers, ordnance maps, scalpels, forceps, photographic apparatus, and all other tackle for finding out everything about everything, and a little more too.'

The giant, obviously a kind of Scanner, has a motto some of us might find useful:

'Do the duty which lies nearest you, and catch the first beetle you come across.'