222 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



I must know that poison, in certain quantities, will destroy me. Is 

 this knowledge, therefore, more valuable than other knowledge? 



" The power of self-maintenance necessarily preceding the power 

 of maintaining offspring, it follows that knowledge needful for self- 

 maintenance has stronger claims than knowledge needful for family 

 welfare, is second in value to none save knowledge needful for imme- 

 diate self-preservation." Because I must know how to secure bread 

 and potatoes, nay, more, because I must actually secure them, before I 

 can support a family, is this bread and potato knowledge therefore in 

 any sense more valuable than that knowledge of moral requirements 

 which might help to make me a good father, a proper guide, and lov- 

 ing companion to those who should look to me for protection ? Mr. 

 Spencer further says : " Those various forms of pleasurable occupa- 

 tion which fill up the leisure left by graver occupations — the enjoy- 

 ments of music, poetry, painting — manifestly imply a pre-existing soci- 

 ety. And consequently that part of human conduct which constitutes 

 good citizenship is of more moment than that which goes out in ac- 

 complishments or exercise of the tastes ; and, in education, prepara- 

 tion for the one must rank before preparation for the other." What 

 do these words "rank before " mean ? Before in necessity? Yes. 

 Before in value ? No. Because we must be civilized before we can 

 develop our a?sthetical, our moral and religious nature, therefore civil- 

 ization is more valuable than the flower of spirituality ? The rose 

 must have its roots and body, must have them well trained and cared 

 for ; therefore the roots and body are more valuable than the opened 

 bud with its wealth of color and fragrance. Let us hold clearly in 

 mind Mr. Spencer's teaching as to the proper subordination of material 

 in education. First should come that education which prepares for 

 direct self-preservation ; second, that which prepares for indirect self- 

 preservation ; third, that which prepares for parenthood ; fourth, 

 that which prepares for citizenship ; fifth, that which prepares for 

 the miscellaneous requirements of life. How shall this order be 

 applied ? " Of course, the ideal of education is complete preparation 

 in all these divisions ; but, failing that, the aim should be to maintain 

 a due proportion between the degrees of preparation in each. And 

 what is due proportion ? It is an attention greatest where the value 

 is greatest, less where the value is less, least where the value is least." 

 Take this language in connection with the following sentence : " For 

 the average man, we say, the desideratum is a training that ap- 

 proaches nearest to perfection in the things which most subserve com- 

 plete living, and falls more and more below perfection in the things 

 that have more and more remote bearing on complete living." Here 

 we draw near Mr. Spencer's meaning in the words " complete living." 

 Complete living is more to be sought in self-preservation than in the 

 creation of a poem, the production of harmonies, the luxury of benev- 

 olence. Man, Mr. Spencer himself being judge, is a threefold being, 



