Natioiial Scirufific and Ediicalioual hisliliilious. 325 



2. History, both ancient and modern, and chronology. 



3. Agriculture in all its numerous and extensive branches. 



4. The principles and jjractice of manufactures. 



5. The history, principles, ol)jects, and channels of commerce. 



6. Those parts of mathematicks which are necessary to the division of property, 

 to finance, and to the principles and practice of war — for there is too nuich reason to 

 fear that war will continue, for some time to come, to be the unchristian mode of 

 deciding disputes between christian nations. 



7. Tho.se parts of natural philosophy and chemistry, which admit of an application 

 to agriculture, manufacture, commerce, and war. 



8. Natural history, which includes the history of animals, vegetables, and fossils. 

 To render instruction in the.se branches of science easy, it will be necessary to estab- 

 li.sh a nmseum, as also a garden, in which not only all the shrubs, etc., but all the 

 forest trees of the United States should be cultivated. The great L,innssus, of Upsal 

 enlarged the commerce of Sweden, by his discoveries in natural history. He once 

 saved the Swedish navy by finding out the time in which a worm laid its eggs, and 

 recommending the immersion of the timber, of which the ships were built, at that 

 season wholly under water. vSo great were the services this illustrious naturalist 

 rendered his country by the application of his knowledge to agriculture, manufac- 

 tures, and commerce, that the present King of Sweden pronounced an eulogium upon 

 him from his throne, soon after his death. 



9. Philology, which should include, besides rhetorick and criticism, lectures upon 

 the construction and pronunciation of the English language. Instruction in this 

 branch of literature will become the more necessary in America, as our intercoui'se 

 must soon cea.se with the bar, the stage, and the pulpits of Great Britain, from whence 

 we receive our knowledge of the pronunciation of the English language. Even modern 

 English books should cease to be the models of stile in the United States. The 

 present is the age of simplicity in writing in America. The turgid stile of Johnson — 

 the purple glare of Gibbon, and even the studied and thickset metaphours of Junius, 

 are all equally unnatural, and should not be admitted into our country. The cultiva- 

 tion and perfection of our language becomes a matter of consequence when viewed 

 in another light. It will probably be spoken by more people in the course of two or 

 three centuries, than ever spoke any one language at one time since the creation 

 of the world. When we consider the influence which the prevalence of only hvo 

 languages, viz, the English and the Spanish, in the extensive regions of North and 

 South America, will have upon manners, commerce, knowledge, and civilization, 

 scenes of human happiness and glory open before us, which elude from their magni- 

 tude the utmost grasp of the human understanding. 



10. The German and French languages should be taught in this University. The 

 many excellent books which are written in both the.se languages ujxjn all subjects, 

 more especially upon those which relate to the advancement of national improve- 

 ments of all kinds, will render a knowledge of them an essential part of the educa- 

 tion of a legislator of the United vStates. 



11. All those athletick and manly exerci.ses should likewise be taught in the Uni- 

 versity, which are calculated to impart health, .strength, and elegance to the human 

 body. 



To render the instruction of our j^outh as ea.sy and exten.sive as possible in several 

 of the above-mentioned branches of literature, let four young men of good ethication 

 and active minds be sent abroad al; the publick expense, to collect and transmit to the 

 professors of the said branches all the improvements that are daily made in Europe, 

 in agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, and in the arts of war and practical 

 government. This measure is rendered the more necessary from the di.stance of the 

 United States from Europe, by which means the ra3-s of knowledge strike the United 

 States so partially, that they can be brought to a useful focus, only by employing suit- 



