75 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



lows, who ought to have been weaned 

 from tins pagan nonsense long ago, 

 take to whining about their forlorn- 

 noss, with nothing remaining but God's 

 universe, the case becomes pitiable. 

 This is the second time that Prof. Tyn- 

 dall has been gravely told across the 

 table in New York by after-dinner ora- 

 tors that they would go back to hea- 

 thenism rather than accept the science 

 that his presence suggested a strik- 

 ing comment on the value which these 

 defenders of the faith attach to the re- 

 ligion of civilization. But let people 

 be suckled where they please; as for 

 our own spiritual lactation we prefer to 

 get it from the revelations of modern 

 science rather than from the Jack-and- 

 a-Beanstalk tomfooleries of pagan my- 

 thology. 



No ! the alarm-bell is rung at the 

 progress of science in the present age 

 to but little purpose. The worth of 

 the universe must rise as its grandeurs 

 are comprehended, and our joy in its 

 harmony and beauty will be height- 

 ened the more deeply it is understood. 



" I grieve not that ripe knowledge takes 

 away 

 The charm that Nature to my child- 

 hood wore, 

 For with the insight cometh day by day 

 A greater bliss than wonder was be- 

 fore." 



Nor are religious considerations to 

 be invoked to deter men of science 

 from their exalted work, for the single- 

 minded pursuit of truth is an intrinsi- 

 cally religious act. No limits are to be 

 tolerated but those imposed by Nature 

 herself, and up to those limits the work 

 must be pressed as a sacred duty. For, 

 if, as we believe, science is but a record 

 of the Divine operations in matter, 

 there is devoutness in scientific investi- 

 gation, and to push it to the farthest 

 possible boundaries becomes a matter 

 of clear religious obligation. 



The article of Dr. Barnard, charac- 

 terizing our educational system, and 

 the brief statement of Prof. Agassiz's 



opinion in regard to New-England edu- 

 cation, both of which will be found else- 

 where in our pages, are commended to 

 the very special attention of the burn- 

 ing advocates of compulsory education. 

 According to these, all that our educa- 

 tional system lacks of perfection is a 

 suitable appendage of policemen and 

 constables to drive everybody into the 

 school-houses, that they may be com- 

 pelled to participate in its blessings. 

 In their view, the only difficulty re- 

 maining is a defective will, and a per- 

 verse and contumacious spirit, which 

 can only be dealt with by law- warrants 

 and bludgeons. In so far as compul- 

 sory education is merely a kind of 

 street-cleaning, a scraping together of 

 refuse and vagabond children in places 

 where something can be done to hu- 

 manize them, it may be admissible; 

 but there are very serious grounds of 

 protest against coercion being carried 

 farther. If our so-called educational 

 system be defective to its very roots, 

 a total inversion of the method of 

 Nature, and a violation of the consti- 

 tution of the mind, as Dr. Barnard 

 declares, or if it be a crude vestige of 

 old mediasval ignorance and stupidity, 

 as Prof. Agassiz maintains, there is evi- 

 dently a good deal to do before police- 

 officers can be properly invoked to 

 force it down people's throats. The 

 logic, of course, is short from the estab- 

 lishment of State education, and its 

 maintenance by compulsory taxation, 

 to its enforcement upon everybody by 

 legal coercion. But State education 

 has its evils, and not the least of them 

 is that it gets the benefit of our idol- 

 atry of government and the blind admi- 

 ration of the " institutions of our coun- 

 try," which are believed to be the most 

 perfect under the sun. But "first be 

 sure you are right, and then go ahead " 

 is a golden motto, and, if applied in 

 this case, will postpone for some time 

 the crusade of the coercionists. As 

 long as our school-system is open to 

 such indictments as those of Messrs. 



