THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION. U 5 



In those countries where civilisation has made most rapid strides 

 where the immense advantages of science are duly appreciated, and 

 where all the various arts are cultivated for the common weal great 

 differences of opinion exist as to the kind and extent of general edu- 

 cation. The good cause which every genuine philanthropist must 

 have at heart-viz., the amelioration of the condition of his fellow 

 creatures, is bv these conflicting views materially injured^ and the 

 process of improvement in the needy part of the community main- 

 ly retarded. A constant series of speculative controversies, vehe- 

 ment denunciations, and individual systems is created amongst those 

 whose office and duty it is to direct in the path of wisdom those less 

 informed than themselves ; and, by a strange perversity and spirit ot 

 opposition, these teachers themselves too frequently, on the one hand, 

 become prejudiced bigots for old customs, or, on the other, visionary 

 enthusiasts for new chimeras. Without entering deeply into the 

 respective merits of these questions, it may be well to remark that 

 the nature and quality of the knowledge bestowed ought to be adapt- 

 ed to the extent of mental development exhibited in different states of 

 society, whether those states be but one step removed from the waste 

 of barbarism, or far advanced in the cultivated fields of civilisation. 

 The food, to be nutritious, should be capable of being easily digested. 

 It is a familiar aphorism, but not the less true, that we should give 

 milk to babes. It is the quality, not the quantity, of the knowledge 

 imparted that is liable to objection. The soil should be prepared by 

 degrees for the perfecting of the choicest produce. The whole eco- 

 nomy of Nature seems to be in accordance with this progressive sys- 

 tem The tiny spring issuing from the mountain's side gathers 

 strength and volume from every tributary rill received in its course, 

 until it swells into the majestic stream which flows through the plain, 

 enriching the bordering lands with its fertilizing flood. The newly- 

 formed bud, inclosed in its protecting folds, gradually bursts into hght 

 and is matured into the perfect fruit by those rays which would, in 

 its earlier state, have withered and destroyed its tender fibres. A 

 sterile tract, recently exposed to the vivifying influence of the sun and 

 atmosphere, at first yields only Thistles or Lichens: these m turn 

 decay and qualify the soil for the reception of choicer produce, till at 

 lengfh the luxuriant blade, the glowing flower, the blooming shrub, 

 the majestic forest tree, and the golden harvest successively adorn 

 the once barren waste. Now, during all these progressive changes, 

 each succeeding development is fed and freshened by the gen.al dew 

 of Heaven ; and this may not inaptly represent .ho-, moral and rell- 



