THE RT. HON. S. CAVE'S PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 9 



out, will do more to destroy the self-respect aud independence 

 of the profession than all the patrons of the Georgian era. 



The effect of more extended appreciation upon art and 

 literature brings us to the effect of science, literature, and art 

 upon the million. A man with his bread to earn must neces- 

 sarily regard the occupation of his life from an utilitarian 

 point of view. Time has to him an actual money value. 

 Now, in my humble opinion, too much has been said about 

 certain studies improving and strengthening the mind rather 

 than others. Surely this depends more upon the mode of 

 teaching than upon the subject taught. Picking up a modein 

 language by ear does not exercise the mental powers like the 

 careful study of a dead language. But why should not the 

 one be as carefully taught as the other ? I do not believe in 

 the " conflict of studies " in this sense. Idiots may possess 

 great aptitude for calculation and for music ; but it does not 

 follow that the' study of mathematics or music may not 

 strengthen the powers even of a powerful mind. So the 

 various arts and sciences, applicable to industry, may be 

 taught in a manner to develop the faculties. " Life," as 

 Sydney Smith says, " has been distressingly abridged since 

 the flood." And if the mind can be nourished by the same 

 food with which the body is fed, what an economy is effected! 

 A blacksmith requires a strong arm. Eowing strengthens the 

 arm ; but it would be a palpable fallacy to say, therefore, a 

 blacksmith should be taught to row instead of to wield the 

 hammer. And though an educated man may have the power 

 of learning something for which people will pay sooner than 

 if his mind had lain entirely fallow, yet there is a risk that 

 the steed may starve while the grass is growing. A French 

 periodical, the EcJio Agricole, complaining of the useless 

 system of schools, asks "why the mind should be led through 

 delusive labyrinths instead of being drawn to the observa- 

 tion of natural phenomena, whence it would bring to other 

 branches of knowledge the spirit of methodical order, which 

 it would have been obliged to employ in the study of nature. 

 There should be introduced," continues the writer, " into pri- 

 mary schools the elementary teaching qf natural science applied 

 to what children see daily in the country." Such a system as 

 this, by which the foundation would be laid for technical 

 education, might well be ado[)ted in the elementary schools 

 of this country, which keep too much to the old groove, 

 exercising the memory instead of the mind, and producing 

 conceited prigs, who despise the honest calling of their 

 parents, and are unfit for any othej. 



