V NOTES OF AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH I33 



to ask/ Would there really be anything wrong in 

 using part of Sunday for the purpose of instructing 

 those who have no other leisure, in a knowledge 

 of the phgenomena of Nature, and of man's rela- 

 tion to Nature? 



I should like to see a scientific Sunday-school 

 in every parish, not for the purpose of superseding 

 any existing means of teaching the people the 

 things that are for their good, but side by side with 

 them. I cannot but think that there is room for 

 all of us to w^ork in helping to bridge over the 

 great abyss of ignorance which lies at our feet. 



And if any of the ecclesiastical persons to 

 Avhom I have referred object that they find it 

 derogatory to the honour of the God whom they 

 worship, to awaken the minds of the young to the 

 infinite wonder and majesty of the works which 

 they proclaim His, and to teach them those laws 

 which must needs be His laws, and therefore of 

 all things needful for man to know — I can only 

 recommend them to be let blood and put on low 

 diet. There must be something very wrong going 

 on in the instrument of logic if it turns out such 

 conclusions from such premises. 



