EDITOR'S TABLE. 



843 



comes of literary study. It is a cul- 

 ture that tends to brighten human 

 intercourse and to sweeten a man's 

 own thoughts. It is a culture emi- 

 nently favorable to flexibility of 

 mind and quick insight into human 

 character. So far it is a culture " for 

 life"; but too often it tends to be- 

 come a culture " for school " — that is 

 to say, when things are learned sim- 

 ply to meet conventional demands 

 and conform to the fashion of the 

 time. 



A true and sufficient culture can 

 never, as we conceive, be founded on 

 literature and language alone. No 

 mind can be truly liberalized with- 

 out imbibing and assimilating the 

 fundamental principles of science. 

 There is darkness in the mind that 

 believes that anything can come out 

 of nothing and which has never ob- 

 tained a glimpse of the exactness 

 with which Nature solves her equa- 

 tions. In the region of mechanics 

 alone there are a thousand beautiful 

 and varied illustrations of the un- 

 failing constancy of natural laws. 

 It is a liberal education to trace the 

 operation of one law under number- 

 less disguises, and thus arrive at an 

 ineradicable conviction that the same 

 law must be reckoned with always 

 and everywhere. The persistence of 

 force, the laws of the composition 

 and resolution of forces, the laws of 

 falling bodies and projectiles, the 

 conservation of energy, the laws of 

 heat, to mention only a few heads of 

 elementary scientific study, are capa- 

 ble, if properly unfolded and illus- 

 trated, of producing in any mind 

 open to large thoughts a sense of 

 harmony and a trust in the underly- 

 ing reason of things, which are con- 

 stitutive elements of the very highest 

 culture. Only, care must be taken 

 to approach these studies in a right 

 spirit. There is a way of regarding 

 the laws of Nature which tends to 

 vulgarize rather than refine the 



mind. If we approach Nature mere- 

 ly as something to be exploited, we 

 get no culture from the study of it ; 

 but if we approach it as the great 

 men of old did, and feel that in 

 learning its laws we are grasping 

 the thoughts which went to the 

 building of the universe, and, by so 

 doing, are affirming our own high 

 calling as intelligent beings, then 

 every moment given to the study 

 of Nature means intellectual, moral, 

 and spiritual gain. When we look 

 into literature there is much to 

 charm, much to delight and satisfy ; 

 and doubtless, in relation to what 

 any one man can accomplish, the 

 field is infinite ; but still we know 

 we are looking into the limited. On 

 the other hand, when we are face to 

 face with Nature, we know we are 

 looking into the infinite, and that, 

 however many veils we may take 

 away, there is still "veil after veil 

 behind." 



It is needless to say that there are 

 thousands of minds in the world 

 possessed of good native power, but 

 laboring under serious disability for 

 the want of that culture which sci- 

 ence alone can bestow. Some of 

 these are sick with morbid longings 

 for unattainable knowledge, and 

 openly or secretly rebellious at the 

 limitations of a Nature whose pow- 

 ers they have never even begun to 

 explore.' To such persons anything 

 like an adequate insight into the 

 harmony amid diversity of Nature's 

 laws would come with all the force 

 of a revelation, and would, we may 

 well believe, clear their minds of the 

 feverish fancies which have made 

 them so restless and dissatisfied; but, 

 alas ! it is rarely that such enlighten- 

 ment comes to those who have not 

 in youth imbibed a portion of the 

 scientific spirit. In this class are to 

 be found the victims of spiritualism, 

 of the Keeley motor, and even of 

 that grotesque satire, the success of 



