8 44 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which we remember almost with 

 fear and trembling, the " sym psycho- 

 graph." Still, to all such we would 

 say : 



" Come forth into tbe li<rht of things ; 

 Let Nature be your teacher." 



The " Nature " which we require to 

 teach us for the peace and tranquillity 

 of our souls is the Nature of every- 

 day phenomena, the Nature that 

 forms the clouds and rounds the 

 raindrops, that springs in the grass 

 and pulses in the tides, that glances 

 in the sunbeam and breathes in the 

 flower, that works witchery in the 

 crystal and breaks into glory in 

 the sunset. The mind that knows 

 what can be known of these things 

 has feasted full of wonder and 

 beauty, and makes no greedy de- 

 mand for higher grace or mightier 

 miracle. 



Then again there are those who 

 for want of a little elementary sci- 

 entific knowledge, and particularly 

 for want of an assured conviction that 

 Nature gives nothing for nothing, are 

 continually attempting the impos- 

 sible in the way of projected inven- 

 tions. They catch at a phrase and 

 think it must represent a fact ; they 

 fall victims to a verbal mythology 

 of their own manufacture. If there 

 was much hone of their learning 

 anything of value through disap- 

 pointment, they might be left to the 

 teaching of experience, costly as the 

 lessons of that master are. But 

 they do not learn : their hopes are 

 blasted, their fortunes, if they had 

 any, are wrecked, but their infatua- 

 tions survive. Where is the invent- 

 or of a perpetual motion who ever 

 ceased to have confidence in his pe- 

 culiar contrivance? The thing may 

 be as motionless as a tombstone, save 

 when urged by external force into a 

 momentary lumbering activity ; but 

 all the same, it only needs, its mis- 

 guided author thinks, a little doctor- 

 ing, a trifling change here or there, 



to make it tear round like mad. 

 And so with other inventors of the 

 impossible : they take counsel not 

 with Nature, but with their own 

 wholly incorrect notions of what the 

 operations of Nature are. The least 

 power of truly analyzing a natural 

 phenomenon, and separating the fac- 

 tors that produce it, would show them 

 the falsity of their ideas ; but that 

 power they do not possess. 



We can not, then, plead too strong- 

 ly for the teaching of science, not 

 with a view to results in money, but 

 with a view to the improvement of 

 the mind and heart of the learner, or, 

 in other words, as a source of culture. 

 Literature introduces us to the world 

 of human thought and action, to the 

 kingdom of man ; and science shows 

 us how the thought and powers of 

 man can be indefinitely enlarged by 

 an ever increasing acquaintance with 

 the laws of the universe. Literature 

 alone leaves the mind without any 

 firm grasp of the reality of things, 

 and science alone tends to produce 

 a hard, prosaic, and sometimes anti- 

 social temper. Each helps to bring 

 out the best possible results of the 

 other ; and it is only by their joint 

 action that human faculties and hu- 

 man character can ever be brought 

 to their perfection. 



SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. 



It is singular what a propensity 

 some writers have to misunderstand 

 and misrepresent the views of Mr. 

 Herbert Spencer, even upon points in 

 regard to which he has made every 

 possible effort to avoid occasion for 

 misapprehension. The term " sur- 

 vival of the fittest " is one which Mr. 

 Spencer himself introduced as being, 

 perhaps, a little less open to misun- 

 derstanding than the Darwinian ex- 

 pression ''natural selection.'' The 

 latter seemed to imply purposive ac- 

 tion, and Mr. Spencer thought that 



