92 LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES, AND REVIEWS. [v. 



turning round. Surely our innocent pleasures are not so 

 abundant in this life, that Ave can afford to despise this 

 or any other source of them. We should fear being 

 banished for our neglect to that limbo, where the great 

 Florentine tells us are those who, during this life, " wept 

 when they might be joyful." 



But I shall be trespassing unwarrantably on your 

 kindness, if I do not proceed at once to my last point — 

 the time at which Physiological Science should first form 

 a part of the Curriculum of Education. 



The distinction between the teaching of the facts of a 

 science as instruction, and the teaching it systematically 

 as knowledge, has already been placed before you in a 

 previous lecture : and it appears to me, that, as with 

 other sciences, the common facts of Biology — the uses of 

 parts of the body — the names and habits of the living 

 creatures which surround us — may be taught with 

 advantage to the youngest child. Indeed, the avidity of 

 children for this kind of knowledge, and the comparative 

 ease with which they retain it, is something quite 

 marvellous. I doubt whether any toy would be so 

 acceptable to young children as a vivarium of the same 

 kind as, but of course on a smaller scale than those 

 admirable devices in the Zoological Gardens. 



On the other hand, systematic teaching in Biology 

 cannot be attempted with success until the student has 

 attained to a certain knowledge of physics and chemistry : 

 for though the phenomena of life are dependent neither 

 on physical nor on chemical, but on vital forces, yet they 

 result in all sorts of physical and chemical changes, 

 which can only be judged by their own laws. 



And now to sum up in a few words the conclusions to 

 which I hope you see reason to follow me. 



Biology needs no apologist when she demands a place 

 - — and a prominent place — in any scheme of education 



