182 THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. [vin. 



a man plus a priest, is bound to be a man, and a good 

 man, over and above his priesthood, so is the soldier 

 bound to be a civilian, and a highly- educated civilian, 

 plus his soldierly qualities and acquirements. 



It seemed to me, therefore, that I might, without 

 impertinence, ask you to consider a branch of know- 

 ledge which is becoming yearly more and more im- 

 portant in the eyes of well-educated civilians ; of 

 which, therefore, the soldier ought at least to know- 

 something, in order to put him on a par with the 

 general intelligence of the nation. I do not say that 

 he is to devote much time to it, or to follow it up into 

 specialities : but that he ought to be well grounded in 

 its principles and methods ; that he ought to be aware 

 of its importance and its usefulness; that so, if he 

 comes into contact as he will more and more with 

 scientific men, he may understand them, respect them, 

 befriend them, and be befriended by them in turn; 

 and how desirable this last result is, I shall tell you 

 hereafter. 



There are those, I doubt not, among my audience 

 who do not need the advice which I shall presume to 

 give to-night ; who belong to that fast-increasing class 

 among officers of whom I have often said and I have 

 found scientific men cordially agree with me that 

 they are the most modest and the most teachable of 

 men. But even in their case there can be no harm in 

 going over deliberately a question of such importance; 

 in putting it, as it were, into shape ; and insisting on 

 arguments which may perhaps not have occurred to 

 some of them. 



Let me, in the first place, reassure those if any 

 such there be who may suppose, from the title of my 



