730 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



gain exactitude and clearness, both in writing and speaking. Nothing 

 is more striking to the instructor, as he faces a new class, than the 

 limited powers of expression possessed by young men who have, in 

 most cases, had a very extended course of classical training. It is 

 largely due, of course, to vague and loose thinking. He who has clear 

 ideas can generally manage to convey his meaning, in varying de- 

 grees of force, correctness, and elegance. The necessity, however, of 

 making clear distinctions between things, which at first seem all alike, 

 to see forces operating where none were seen before, stimulates unused 

 faculties, and then progress becomes distinctly visible. Men who at 

 the beginning expressed themselves in halting, inexact, and timid 

 words, with a seeming passion for brevity, will, at the end of the 

 course in which they have been constantly pushed to express them- 

 selves, talk easily and freely on subjects which would at first have 

 frightened them by an appearance of abstractness. In this respect, 

 the training must be much like that in the study of metaphysics. 

 Under constant criticism looseness of words and definitions will dis- 

 appear — as clearness of ideas comes in. In no other study is inexacti- 

 tude and lack of precision in words or facts more likely to stir up 

 criticism and ridicule than in political economy, because in no other 

 study are persons more concerned with things which affect all the 

 world in every day of its existence, and in which absurd results and 

 stupid mistakes are more easily seen by everybody. The economist 

 must be vigilant and correct ; and the results of this requirement are 

 such as tend to keep him as careful and exact as is possible. The 

 effect of training under such conditions is admirable. 



One other marked result of the study of political economy deserves 

 at least passing mention. Persons who by nature are unfitted for other 

 kinds of academic work, and yet by custom or authority have trodden 

 the beaten educational paths with a dull sense of discouragement and 

 incapacity, have, in many cases, been awakened to a hitherto un- 

 known interest in study by the practical and interesting nature of the 

 subject. Economic questions confront them everywhere, and they 

 meet with the discussion of them over the table, on the walk, and in 

 the newspapers. It, consequently, stimulates even a sluggish disposi- 

 tion to find that he can know something valuable about such practical 

 matters of every-day importance. Livy or Thucydides may pall on his 

 incapacity, but his curiosity may be piqued by having the functions of 

 money explained to him. The purchasing power of his yearly allowance 

 is something which comes home even to him. As enlarging the field 

 for willing mental activity, and giving new and interesting objects for 

 intellectual effort, political economy forms one of the most effective 

 factors in the movement which in these latter days is liberalizing our 

 courses of study, and is freeing us slowly from the cramped tyranny 

 of a traditional training, still demanded, because, forsooth, it once 

 seemed good to the school-men. Willing, enthusiastic study, because 



