SCIENCE-CULTURE FOR THE MASSES. 35 



Think of true science as a living reality; as a faithful 

 expounder of all that is worth knowing and that can be 

 known ; as an existing power, ever anxious in its unwearied 

 march for the good and welfare of mankind ; and best of all, 

 perhaps, as an ever-willing instructor of all who will come to 

 be taught. I cannot conclude my advocacy of this my first 

 proposition, without expressing the earnest wish that the 

 future may see, in greater detail than the present shows us, 

 natural science taught broadcast in our schools. Let us 

 bend the educational twig in its early growth, that our efforts 

 may be perceptible on the fully grown tree. Let us send our 

 boys and girls out into the world, knowing something of the 

 world, of its wonders, and of themselves, as well as of the 

 proprieties of life, or of the dead languages and modern 

 tongues. I think Carlyle well expresses himself regarding 

 the want of such information, when he says, " For many 

 years it has been one of my constant regrets that no school- 

 master of mine had a knowledge of natural history so far, 

 at least, as to have taught me the grasses that grow by the 

 wayside, and the little winged or wingless neighbours that 

 are continually meeting me with a salutation that I cannot 

 answer as things are. Why," he continues, " did not some- 

 body teach me the constellations, and make me at home in 

 the starry heavens which are always overhead, and which I 

 don't half know to this day ? " 



The second point involved in my commendation of 

 natural-science studies, lies in the fact that such studies have 

 important bearings on the prosperity of commerce, and on 

 the health of nations. This proposition admits of proof of 

 the easiest and most direct kind. For if we will only think 

 of the many sources of commercial industry which either take 

 origin from or are very intimately dependent upon the natural 

 objects by which we are surrounded, the cultivation of the 

 knowledge of these objects will at once be admitted to be 

 of the greatest importance from a technical point of view. 

 The extension of botanical science has made us familiar, as 

 Friar Lawrence says, with the " wondrous grace " that lies 



