SCIENTIFIC CULTURE. 529 



conceptions and nobler ideas than your uneducated child of Nature 

 could ever attain. Remember that I am not recommeiidino- an exclu- 

 sive devotion to the natural sciences. I am only claiming for thera 

 their proper place in the scheme of education, and I do not, of course, 

 deny the unquestionable value of both the ancient and the modern 

 classics in cultivating a pure and elevated taste. But I do say that the 

 poet-laureate of England has drawn a deeper inspiration from Nature 

 interpreted by science than any of his predecessors of the classical 

 school ; and I do also affirm that the pre-Raphaelite school of paintino-, 

 with all its grotesque mimicry of Nature, embodies a truer and purer 

 ideal than that of any Roman fable or Grecian dream. And what 

 shall we say of the imagination ? Where can you find a wider field 

 for its exercise than that opened by the discoveries of modern sci- 

 ence ? And as the mind wanders over the vast expanse, crossing bound- 

 less spaces, dwelling, in illimitable time, witnessing the disj)lays of 

 immeasurable power, and studying the adaptations of Omniscient 

 skill, it lives in a realm of beauty, of wonder, and of awe, such as no 

 artist has ever attained to in woi'd, in sound, in color, or in form. 

 And if such a life does not lead man to feel his own dependence, to 

 yearn toward the Infinite Father, and to rest on the bosom of Infinite 

 Love, it is simply because it is not the noble in intellect, not the great 

 in talent, not the profound in knowledge, not the rich in experience, 

 not the lofty in aspiration, not the gifted in imagery, but solely the 

 pure in heart, who see God. 



Such, then, is a very imperfect presentation of what I believe to 

 be the value of scientific studies as a means of education. In what I 

 have stated I have implied that, for these studies to be of any real 

 value, the end. must be constantly kept in view, and everything made 

 subservient to the one great object. To study the natural sciences 

 merely as a collection of interesting facts which it is well for every 

 educated man to know, seldom serves a useful purpose. The young 

 mind becomes wearied with the details, and soon forgets what it has 

 never more than half acquired. The lessons become an exercise of the 

 memory and of nothing more; and if, as is too frequently the case, an 

 attempt is made to cram the half-formed mind in a single school-year 

 with an epitome of half the natural sciences natural i^hilosophy, as- 

 tronomy, and chemistry, physiology, zoology, botany, and mineralogy, 

 following each other in rapid succession these studies become a great 

 evil, an actual nuisance, which I should be the first to vote to abate. 

 The tone of mind is not only not improved, but seriously impaired, and 

 the best product is a superficial, smattering smartness, which is the 

 crying evil not only of our schools, but also of our country. In order 

 that the sciences should be of value in our educational system, they 

 must be taught more from things than from books, and never from 

 books without the things. Tliey must be taught, also, by real living 

 teachers, who are themselves interested in what they teach, are inter- 



TOL. VII. 34 



