EDITOR'S TABLE. 



641 



and they have their value, which men 

 of science by no means deny ; but we 

 have man before us, and society around 

 us, as living and present facts open to 

 immediate inquiry. Why go back to 

 the ages when such a thing as the 

 order of Nature was not even suspect- 

 ed, to get opinions concerning the con- 

 stitution of things which are displayed 

 before our very eyes. It is true that 

 the study of the past can aid in the un- 

 derstanding of the present ; but it is 

 a deeper truth that the study of that 

 which comes within the range of actual 

 experience is the only key to the un- 

 derstanding of the past Science must 

 be the interpreter of History. The na- 

 ture of man ; the laws of his physical, 

 mental, and moral constitution ; their 

 interdependence and reactions ; and 

 how he has come to be what he is: 

 the nature of social aggregations ; the 

 natural laws by which they are regu- 

 lated, and how they have come to be 

 what we see them are strict and le- 

 gitimate scientific questions, and are no 

 more to be determined by the literary 

 method than the constitution of the 

 sun or the origin of species. Biology, 

 psychology, ethnology, and anthro- 

 pology, are the names of branches of 

 knowledge, imperfect indeed, but firm- 

 ly established, which have been created 

 by modern science, and which have al- 

 ready thrown a flood of light upon the 

 nature of man. The scientific knowl- 

 edge thus obtained is also the only in- 

 dispensable basis for understanding the 

 constitution and course of human so- 

 ciety ; and, if the reader cares to un- 

 derstand how essential one of those sci- 

 ences is to the proper understanding of 

 social phenomena, we recommend him 

 to read the article in the present num- 

 ber of the Monthly on the bearings 

 of biology upon sociological studies. 



We have seen that the assumption 

 of the writer in the Nation, that sci- 

 ence is confined to the lower sphere of 

 physical phenomena, is altogether gra- 

 tuitous; and that man and society, if 

 vol. ni. 41 



they are ever to be understood, must 

 in future be mainly studied by tho 

 method of science which seeks for tho 

 establishment of natural laws. On 

 what ground, then, can it be pretended 

 that the study of man and human inter- 

 ests does not fall within the compass of 

 scientific education ? The writer seems 

 to take it as a foregone conclusion that 

 science has nothing to do with " the 

 proper study of mankind ; " yet scien- 

 tific education has been long urged by 

 its ablest advocates upon the very 

 ground that it has every thing to do 

 with it. Mr. J. S. Mill, although no 

 partisan upon this question, explicitly 

 denies the position taken by the Na- 

 tion. In his celebrated address at the 

 University of St. Andrew's, in 18C7, 

 he said: "Scientific education, apart 

 from professional objects, is but a prep- 

 aration for judging rightly of man and 

 of his requirements and interests ; " 

 and he advocated compendious meth- 

 ods of classical study to allow more 

 science in the universities, with a view 

 to this very object. 



In an article published in an Eng- 

 lish review in 1859, discussing the 

 worth and claims of different kinds 

 of knowledge, and which is one of the 

 most powerful pleas for scientific edu- 

 cation that have yet appeared an 

 article which was translated into half 

 a dozen European languages, and 

 which has been republished in all 

 shapes and a score of times in this 

 country the claims of scientific educa- 

 tion were placed upon the distinctive 

 ground of its bearing upon the highest 

 human interests. We extract a closing 

 passage : 



" Thus, to the question with which we 

 Bet out What knowledge is of most worth 1 

 the uniform reply is science 1 This is 

 the verdict on all the counts. For direct 

 self-preservation, or the maintenance of life 

 and health, the all-important knowledge is 

 science. For that indirect self-preserva- 

 tion which we call gaining a livelihood, the 

 knowledge of greatest value is science. 

 For the due discharge of parental functions, 



