SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN LARGE TOWNS. 95 



the greatest care and consideration be bestowed upon the choice, of 

 those who are to conduct them. Early education forms the founda- 

 tion necessary for raising a superstructure of scientific knowledge. 

 By it the use of the necessary tools, reading and writing, is acquired, 

 the memory is exercised, and the expansion of the intellectual facul- 

 ties is carefully watched and gently aided. But something beyond 

 this may be effected. There are many things connected with natural 

 history which may be advantageously pointed out and explained to 

 children ; such as the adaptation of the forms of animals to their ha- 

 bits and wants, as exemplified in the webbed feet of aquatic birds, 

 and the long beaks of woodcocks and similar birds, which enable 

 them to penetrate marshy ground in search of their food ; and the 

 teeth and feet of animals of prey, as compared with those which are 

 herbivorous. In a thousand ways of this kind the infant mind may 

 be imbued with a taste for scientific pursuits. But the science of re- 

 ligion is that which it more especially behoves us to bring before 

 children. We cannot make them understand its mysteries or doc- 

 trines, but we may exercise them in its discipline, and may make 

 them acquainted with the touching histories of that sublime and 

 vivifying Revelation which may in after years prove a " tight to 

 their feet and a lantern to their paths." Thus to instruct youth is 

 a task of hope and joyful anticipation. As we witness the blending 

 of religious impressions with the sunny dreams of childhood, we feel 

 assured that when those dreams are recalled in after life, by the 

 power of association, these impressions shall accompany them. They 

 may either grow with the strength of our child into fixed and go- 

 verning principles of action, or having been smothered for a while 

 by impressions of an opposite nature, they may yet again burst forth, 

 and bring peace to his mind. To the parent who, with mildness 

 and gentleness, has endeavoured to associate religious thoughts with 

 the expanding feelings of youth, how consolatory must be the hope 

 that they will, sooner or later, produce their effects, and ensure him 

 a union with his child in that place where sin and sorrow shall for 

 ever cease. From these considerations it follows that early education 

 is a subject of the deepest importance, and that it forms a material 

 part of that system which is calculated to improve the condition 

 and raise the character of the inhabitants of large towns. The at- 

 tention of the legislature seems at length turned to the subject, and 

 I cannot but hail with delight that clause in the bill which has been 

 introduced by Lord Brougham, whereby provision is made for the 

 instruction of the young in the whole unmutilated volume of Divine 

 Revelation. It is to be hoped, however, that whatever may be the 



