EDITOR'S TABLE. 



703 



are to-day. "We combat them success- 

 fully by knowledge : that is evident ; 

 and it is not evident, nor, indeed, is 

 there a scintilla of proof, that we com- 

 bat them successfully by anything else. 

 Of course, if we choose, we may believe 

 without evidence; but whether it is 

 wise to force belief in this manner, or to 

 allow it to be dominated by mere senti- 

 ment, each one must decide for himself. 

 To us it seems the part not of wis- 

 dom only, but in a true sense — the truest 

 sense — of piety also, to take the world 

 as we find it ; to acknowledge, with 

 Mattliew Arnold, that 



" Limits we did not set 

 Condition ail we do " ; 



and then to apply ourselves with all the 

 courage and energy we can command to 

 making the best of the conditions we 

 find prevailing. The more adverse those 

 conditions, the more scope there is for 

 the active brain and resolute will. The 

 intellectual advancement of the civilized 

 man of our day is a measure of the dif- 

 ficulties he has faced and overcome. 

 The most wholesome view, therefore, to 

 take of an unfavorable season is to re- 

 gard it as an obstacle thrown by the 

 constitution of nature in the way of hu- 

 man effort, but an obstacle which, by de- 

 veloping patience and stimulating reflec- 

 tion, may itself be productive of good 

 results. It is doubtless hard to be philo- 

 sophical when severe pecuniary loss is 

 staring one in the face ; but it may not 

 be amiss to reflect that what to-day is a 

 matter of not irremediable loss might, 

 in days when faith was more active but 

 knowledge more scanty and co-opera- 

 tion less developed, have meant actual 

 death by starvation. It is something to 

 live in an age and belong to a commu- 

 nity in which industrious men do not 

 starve, even in the worst of times. If, 

 therefore, we can not command the 

 weather, let us make the best of such 

 weather as we can get, and strive by 

 forethought, by energy, by co-operation 

 with our fellows, to establish more and 

 more effectual compensations for the 



inequality of the seasons and whatever 

 other disadvantages may be inseparable 

 from our existence on a globe which 

 probably was not fashioned solely with 

 a view to our comfort. 



THE PURPOSE OF MANUAL TBAINIXG. 



OuE " Popular Miscellany " last 

 month contained two paragraphs in 

 which were embodied some excellent 

 thoughts on the value and purpose of 

 technical education, or " hand-training," 

 in schools. The analysis of the real ob- 

 ject of the instruction given by Prof. 

 Le Conte so clearly indicates the direc- 

 tion which the teaching should take, and 

 the tendencies it should encourage, that 

 it may well be referred to again. 



As drawing should bo taught. Prof. 

 Le Conte affirms, not for making art- 

 ists, but for training the brain through 

 eye and hand, so hand-work instruction 

 should be given with a similar aim, 

 rather than for making carpenters and 

 blacksmiths. While in biology the train- 

 ing is mainly of the brain through the 

 senses, in hand-work it is mainly of the 

 brain through the hand. If the former 

 is mainly observing and thinking, the 

 other is mainly thinking and doing. It 

 is impossible to doubt the importance of 

 hand-training from this point of view. 

 The absolute necessity of the use of the 

 hand in the brain-culture of the child, 

 and the importance of the use of instru- 

 ments of research in the best scientific 

 culture of the university, are now ad- 

 mitted by all. But in the wide space 

 between these extremes of the educa- 

 tional course — viz., in the school and the 

 college — this great agent of culture is 

 wholly left out. Now, it may be as- 

 sumed as certain that for every grade 

 of culture, whether of the individual or 

 of the race, there is a corresponding 

 grade of hand-work necessary for the 

 best brain-development. In the child of 

 pre-school age, and in the savage, it is 

 the simple use of the hand, or of the 

 hand assisted by rude implements. In 



