EECEEATIYE SCIENCE. 



astronomy, and tb.erefrom explain tlie idea of 

 gravitation, he would be treating his subject 

 in a recreative manner, wbich would engage 

 tbe attention of a thousand times as many- 

 minds as would take interest in a cold mathe- 

 matical formula. To enlist the sympathies of 

 the young, and brace up the powers of mature 

 minds in the investigation of natural pheno- 

 mena, wiU be the object of the work now 

 offered to the public. Truth wiU herein have 

 all the vestments of beauty that of right 

 belong to it ; science, in the sternest sense of 

 the word, will never be sacrificed to any 

 mere literary effect ; but we shall gather, as 

 the bee does, the sweetest honey-drops from 

 the fields of human learning, and at every 

 step recognize, in hope and faith and love, 

 the Source of things created, and point the 

 mind of the student to the great Benefactor, 

 by whose will the worlds sprung into being, 

 and man was designed to exercise the powers 

 of his reason in regions to which sense alone 

 would never admit him. Nature lies before 

 us as a panorama ; let us explore, and find 

 delight. She puts questions to us, and we 

 may also question her ; the answers may 

 oftentimes be hard to spell, but no dreaded 

 sphinx shall interpose when human wisdom 

 falters. Linking the departments of know- 

 ledge together by the threads of their in- 

 evitable connection, let us help one another 

 in our several regions of research, and so 

 load the way towards the. perception of 

 harmonies of which we have already the 

 foreshadowings in the genuine poetry of 

 science. Nature must supply the warp and 

 woof from which the imagination is to weave 

 the web of enchantment ; if it be pleasant to 

 gather the material, how much more so to 

 behold the first thread, then the indication 

 of the pattern, and at last the completed 

 picture. 



SCIENCir AND THE BOY. 



THE DUTY OF THE TEACHES . 



Instil the love and reverence which you feel, 

 The sweet delight in flowers and the sky, 

 By pictures, books : in landscapes fair and wide. 

 In the high mountains and the boundless sea. 

 Teach him to love all these ; moreover, name 

 The petals of each flow'ret, class each shell:— 

 Mark well the wondrous fashion of God's work, in 

 Bird, animal, and insect. 



His young heart 

 Will pulse and throb with a njost holy awe 

 When he shall mark the infinite wisdom shown 

 In each and all, an atom or a globe, 

 Proceeding from God's hand ; When he shall know 

 That not a feather stirs beyond its place, 

 That not a beauty but still has a use — 

 That even in the roughest, hardest things 

 Strange glories lie ; that in the wing o' the gnat, 

 The skin of snake, or eye of crawling toad, • • ' 

 Such clouds of glorious colour are contained. 

 That the skilled pencil and the cunning brain 

 Of man can scarcely picture ; the rough shell, 

 Touched with Art's polish, brightly glows and glads 

 Each eye that sees it, and a shred of wood 

 Holds in its little space most wondrous forms. 

 * * * * When this glimpse 

 Thou hast given him of this world we have and hold, 

 Bring forth those instruments by Science made 

 To show the upper and the lower worlds, 

 And mark the two infinities of each. 

 Peer through the telescope, world-systems show, 

 And tell what various knowledge testifies ; 

 Of star-globes floating in the abyss of blue ; 

 Eeason of worlds in worlds ; of suns that gem 

 The sky like gold-dust sprinkled on a robe, • 

 But yet are suxs. Each step you farther go 

 Unveil new wonders, till he shall fall down, 

 Knowing his infinite smallness, and gasp out 

 His humble prayer to Him who made them all ! 



And now the microscope produce, and show 



Design and glory in a filmy wing, 



That plumes more gorgeous than the ostrich bears 



Deck the poor moth ; the house-fly has a foot 



Fitted with instrument so wisely made. 



That man, but in the gray age o' the world. 



Found comprehension for it. 



Show him how prodigal of work God is, 



How every small ephemeris sets forth 



Purpose and science, if born but to die, 



As we in our weak knowledge still must deem. 



Show him the mjTiads which live within 



A drop of water ; that Intelligence 



Creates and orders, and still cares for each; 



And then his heart will throb and bound again, 



Knowing his greatness, and thus led to God 



By steps hewn in the Infinite Unknown, 



But not uncertain, he will wisely pray — 



Reverence himself, and love his neighbour too.— $ 



