2 78 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



them all. And when we pass to the organic sciences, the effort of 

 memory required becomes still greater. In human anatomy alone, the 

 quantity of detail is so great, that the young surgeon has commonly to 

 get it up half a dozen times before he can permanently retain it. The 

 number of species of plants which botanists distinguish, amounts to 

 some 320,000; while the varied forms of animal life with which the 

 zoologist deals, are estimated at some two millions. So vast is the 

 accumulation of facts which men of science have before them, that 

 only by dividing and subdividing their labors can they deal with it. 

 To a complete knowledge of his own division, each adds but a general 

 knowledge of the rest. Surely, then, science, cultivated even to a very 

 moderate extent, affords adequate exercise for memory. To say the 

 very least it involves quite as good a training for this faculty as 

 language does. 



But now mark that while for the training of mere memory, science 

 is as good as, if not better than, language; it has an immense superiority 

 in the kind of memory it cultivates. In the acquirement of a language, 

 the connexions of ideas to be established in the mind correspond to facts 

 that are in great measure accidental; whereas, in the acquirement of 

 science, the connexions of ideas to be established in the mind corre- 

 spond to facts that are mostly necessary. It is true that the relations 

 of words to their meaning is in one sense natural, and that the genesis 

 of these relations may be traced back a certain distance; though very 

 rarely to the beginning; (to which let us add the remark that the laws 

 of this genesis form a branch of mental science — the science of phi- 

 lology). But since it will not be contended that in the acquisition of 

 languages, as ordinarily carried on, these natural relations between 

 words and their meanings are habitually traced, and the laws regulating 

 them explained; it must be admitted that they are commonly learned 

 as fortuitous relations. On the other hand, the relations which science 

 presents are casual relations; and, when properly taught, are under- 

 stood as such. Instead of being practically accidental, they are neces- 

 sary ; and as such, give exercise to the reasoning faculties. While lan- 

 guage familiarizes with non-rational relations, science familiarizes with 

 rational relations. While the one exercises memory only, the other 

 exercises both memory and understanding. 



Observe next that a great superiority of science over language as a 

 means of discipline, is, that it cultivates the judgment. As, in a lec- 

 ture on mental education delivered at the Eoyal Institution, Professor 

 Faraday well remarks, the most common intellectual fault is deficiency 

 of judgment. He contends that 'society, speaking generally, is not 

 only ignorant as respects education of the judgment, but it is also igno- 

 rant of its ignorance. ' And the cause to which he ascribes this state is 

 want of scientific culture. The truth of his conclusion is obvious. 



