EVAPORATION. 279 



are contained the results of laborious research and scien- 

 tific investigation, conclude that he is thereby debarred 

 from all means of intellectual cultivation. Let him ex- 

 amine with a spirit of inquiry and investigation the 

 scenes around him. Let him search for knowledge in 

 the trees of the forest and the stones of the brook ; let 

 him lay nature under contribution to increase his stock 

 of knowledge and he will find that her instruction is 

 freely given, and that exertions made to gain knowledge 

 carry their own rewards with them. Let it be proclaimed 

 till it shall sound in the ears of every teacher who is not 

 awake to that which is both his interest and his duty, 

 that there is a way by which his instructions may be ren- 

 dered doubly interesting and doubly profitable to those 

 who are placed under his care. If he has become wea- 

 ried by listening to the same dull sound of recitations, 

 and has found his pupils not less so by conning over again 

 and again the same lesson, let him lead them out into the 

 fields of nature ; let him vary and diversify his instruc- 

 tions by visible illustrations drawn from scenes and objects 

 around him, and see if he does not find anew charm 

 thrown over the objects to which his attention is directed. 

 He will find such a course a source of improvement 

 scarcely less important to himself than to his pupils. By 

 the intellectual effort thus required, and the new ideas 

 thus elicited, he will find that his own mind is expanded 

 and enlarged, and that while he is endeavoringto enlighten 

 the minds of those under his instruction, he is perform- 

 ing the same office for his own mind. 



But it is not in Natural Philosophy alone that the intelli- 

 gent and faithful instructor will seek to diversify and 

 elucidate the principles of science, by familiar and varied 

 illustrations drawn from objects around him. In almost 

 every path of science, nature has scattered flowers, which 

 the hand of the diligent and attentive lover of knowledge 

 will not fail to gather. Human character and human 

 actions are among the most interesting objects of contem- 

 plation that can be presented to the mind of man. While, 

 therefore, the instructor, who loves his employment, will 

 delight to refer to the material world for illustrations in 



