FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 425 



philosoplier's stone " lias in tliis gciieration its thonsamls of counterparts, all 

 alike in an effort to make something out of nothing. Nor are Vfe all fools, 

 however fooled, because we follow these notions. Some are shrcwed business 

 men and some are skilled artisans, some arc learned men and some are so- 

 called scientists, each in his way wise, but all without that training in scien- 

 tific thought, as well as scientific fact, which includes wisdom in art and 

 knowledge. 



If, now, science and the arts are so intimately united in practical life, how 

 ought they to be adjusted in our schemes of education? If science everywhere 

 pervades the arts and the arts make science of use ; if science explains the mys- 

 teries of arts and arts furnish the best of illustrations for science; if science 

 extends the possibilities of the arts and suggests their line of development, 

 while the arts support and stimulate scientific investigations, ought they not 

 to have equal place in a system of general education? Perhaps so; yet, not 

 only this relation but the very practical differences must be taken into account. 

 Science deals in generalizations principally, all its data being grouped under 

 general truths; the arts deal mostly in specifications, each minute item of 

 detail being essential to the wiiole. Science calls for a rapid glance at many 

 particulars to find a unity in all, or else a very accurate observation of com- 

 plex phenomena, so as to see the whole in all its parts ; the arts in modern life 

 give most attention to a single particular at a time, or to each item in the 

 complexity, so that each part may be wrought by a different individual. Sci- 

 ence is expressed in general principles ; the arts are expressed in specific rules. 

 Science has for its object knowing ; the arts are concerned with doing. The 

 personal result of scientific pursuit is wisdotn in some particular line of thought ; 

 that of pursuing an art is skill in that particular line of action. 



Now, while these facts prove the two still more nearly related, as comple- 

 ments of each other in the economy of human action, they also prove the dif- 

 ficulty of uniting them directly in the usual course of training. Put a boy to 

 a trade, and he must become at once the subject of routine and details; intro- 

 duce him to the study of science and he must master details, to be sure, but 

 only to press on toward the general truth. Undertake to teach him science 

 and at the same time to perfect him in a trade, and one or the other is very 

 likely to be subordinated completely, or both to be failures. 



This, I think, explains the fact that so many manual-labor schools have 

 failed ; and partially, also, the very prevalent notion that extended education 

 is of little use, if not a damage, in the trades. Those once popular schools 

 made excellent promises of supporting the student in his course, teaching him 

 a trade, and fitting him for a profession. They could do none of these suc- 

 cessfully, and very fortunately failed before serious damage resulted. Very 

 unfortunately, however, they have left behind them the ill odor of their short- 

 comings attached to every effort to combine education with the arts. This 

 operates in different ways according to the bias of the inquirer. One who 

 regards science of chief importance, as mother of arts and inspirer of general 

 industry, will deplore the expense which a system of labor involves, and decry 

 the waste of energy and time to a student required to perform it. One who 

 looks upon the trades as the only sources of production, will complain that so 

 much attention is given to general knowledge and culture as to afford very im- 

 perfect, if any, training in the arts. The former class would abandon the 

 effort as useless, and leave the world to wag with labor and learning hopelessly 

 divorced. "Let wisdom come to the few and let the rabble be driven to their 

 tasks by the goad of hunger," is their decision. 



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