366 On the Utility of Early Elementary Instruction 



and the animal kingdoms, which are more immediatel)' intended 

 for his use ? In short, there is no situation in life where an early 

 acquaintance with Natural History and the collateral sciences 

 will not be of essential service; and no study can be better 

 adapted for training to habits of reflection, morality, and exalt- 

 ed ideas of the great Author of all nature. 



Much might be done were teachers in our academies to cul- 

 tivate a taste for such pursuits, and attach to their seminaries a 

 few specimens from the different kingdoms of nature. They 

 could easily give demonstrations on these subjects, without at 

 all interfering with the other studies of their pupils, or increas- 

 ing the expense of education. 



But there is one particular topic which, we think, has not 

 been sufficiently noticed in relation to Natural History, and 

 that is, the immense mass of misery, disease, and mortality, 

 at present resulting from the great ignorance, among all classes, 

 of the most obvious laws of nature, as applicable to the human 

 race. It is lamentable to think, that while man is straining 

 every nerve for the advancement of the arts and sciences, — for 

 increasing the products of the ground, and for improving the 

 breeds of our most common domestic animals ; — yet that, to 

 the organization of man himself, and its relation to external na- 

 ture, surely by far the most interesting subjects for examination 

 and reflection, so little attention has been paid. It has long been 

 ascertained, that not above one-half of the population born in 

 towns ever survive two years of age, and that a great proportion 

 of the other half are involved in such diseases as cut them off ei- 

 ther before or soon after reaching manhood, comparatively few, 

 indeed, ever arriving at the period of old age. Notwithstanding 

 of this frightful state of things, however^ and all the miseries at- 

 tendant thereon, seldom or never, it is believed, has any ener- 

 getic attempt been made to ascertain and remove the remote or 

 more immediate causes of such mortality among the various 

 classes of the inhabitants in our manufacturing districts and large 

 towns. Intemperance, and the want of proper nourishment, are 

 known to be powerfully predisposing causes to disease among the 

 labouring classes ; but the noxious effects of the different sub- 

 stances used in various trades, of the vitiated atmospheres, and 

 of the constrained and recumbent position of the body, have 



