THE PRACTICAL OUTCOME OF SCIENCE. 483 



steam-engine, shall any one deny the discoveries of to-day an 

 equal chance ? If the slight and apparently useless knowledge 

 of the ancients in regard to electricity has been growing larger 

 and larger until it culminates in our magnificent system of 

 telegraphy and telephony, who dare predict a limit to the utility 

 of any knowledge at present existing, however insignificant it 

 may now appear ? 



Thus far we have been considering science in its bearing upon 

 the physical wants of our race. However, man has a threefold 

 nature physical, intellectual, and moral ; and, while science has 

 been ameliorating the first, it has had an important influence upon 

 the others. It is a great truth, in regard to all our powers, that 

 they become stronger as we use them. Thus the blacksmith's 

 arm grows sinewy by wielding the hammer. Even so it is with 

 our mental powers. They are impaired by idleness and strength- 

 ened by exertion ; and, in the " struggle for existence " or effort to 

 attain the mastery over Nature, our intellectual faculties are 

 brought into lively exercise and are accordingly strengthened. 



In these days people are often asking which is the better edu- 

 cation, the classical or the scientific ; but, without attempting to 

 consider that question, two facts may be observed : First, that 

 language being the work of man, in its study the student can rise 

 no higher than the source ; and that Nature being the product of 

 an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God, its study must 



lead a person 



" Through Nature up to Nature's God." 



The second fact is, that without scientific invention classical edu- 

 cation would be impossible. Suppose the modern printing-presses 

 and paper-mills were swept out of existence, how rapidly would 

 linguistic study come to an end ! The fact is, that scientific re- 

 searches in a thousand and one ways have made linguistic study 

 possible, and lifted humanity from barbarism to civilization. 



It would be pleasing in this connection to note how the various 

 intellectual faculties are improved by the study of the sciences. 

 Memory, abstraction, generalization, reason, and, in short, all our 

 powers can be thus developed. However attractive the topic, the 

 space allotted to an essay of this kind will not allow dwelling 

 upon the utility of scientific pursuits as a means of mental disci- 

 pline, and they are passed by with the simple remark that the 

 study of Nature, while beneficial to all our faculties, is peculiarly 

 adapted to the development of our powers of observation. For 

 this purpose there was no provision made in the old style of edu- 

 cation ; and how important it was that some training should be 

 given in this direction must be patent to every one. 



The Russian proverb says of the non-observant man, " He goes 

 through the forest and sees no fire-wood " ; and Dr. Johnson once 



