REMARKS ON THB NECESSITY, &C. 253 



has been wholly converted into a mixture of sugar with a gum, re- 

 sembling gum arabic. The latter is now employed, in the great 

 hospitals of Paris, as a substitute for gum arabic. 



The fact has been long known, though not previously accounted 

 for, that beer, equally strong, may be brewed from a mixture of malt 

 and barley, as from malt alone ; and distillers have availed them- 

 selves of this circumstance. The starch of the barley is, by the ac- 

 tion of the diatase of the malt, converted into gum and sugar, and 

 the latter, when fermented, furnishes the alcohol or spirit. 



In organic analysis, diatase, from the extraordinary power which 

 it possesses of rendering soluble so vast a proportion of starch, will 

 render valuable service, as it will enable the chemist to separate the 

 smallest portions from foreign substances. 



REMARKS ON THE NECESSITY OF IMPROVEMENT 

 IN EDUCATION. 



Notwithstanding the importance of the subject, and the care 

 which has been bestowed in its investigation, education is yet in its 

 infancy. This circumstance has arisen from the neglect with which 

 those engaged in the instruction of youth have treated everything 

 relatingirto the mind, and its springs of action. If teachers are ut- 

 terly ignorant of the right method of imparting instruction, both 

 moral and intellectual — and no one can deny that they are — it cer- 

 tainly cannot be owing to any scarcity of excellent publications, or 

 high authorities, on the subject. Locke's Thoughts on Education, 

 was published as far back as 1690, and abounds in excellent pre- 

 cepts and sound advice to preceptors ; and if they had imbibed but 

 a tithe of the wholesome doctrines developed in this valuable little 

 work, they would have rendered their own situation more pleasant 

 to themselves, and more profitable and delightful to their pupils. 

 Teachers, both in private families and in schools, have generally 

 received their education at some public school ; and if human in- 



