64 ON THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE n 



Florentine tells us are those who, during this life, 

 " wept when they might be joyful." 



But I shall be trespassing unwarrantably on 

 your kindness, if I do not proceed at once to my 

 last point the time at which Physiological 

 Science should first form a part of the Curriculum 

 of Education. 



The distinction between the teaching of the 

 facts of a science as instruction, and the teaching 

 it systematically as knowledge, has already been 

 placed before you in a previous lecture : and it 

 appears to me that, as with other sciences, the 

 common facts of Biology the uses of parts of the 

 body the names and habits of the living creatures 

 which surround us may be taught with ad- 

 vantage to the youngest child. Indeed, the 

 avidity of children for this kind of knowledge, 

 and the comparative ease with which they retain 

 it, is something quite marvellous. I doubt 

 whether any toy would be so acceptable to young 

 children as a vivarium of the same kind as, but 

 of course on a smaller scale than, those admirable 

 devices in the Zoological Gardens. 



On the other hand, systematic teaching in 

 Biology cannot be attempted with success until 

 the student has attained to a certain knowledge 

 of physics and chemistry : for though the phse- 

 nomena of life are dependent neither on physical 

 nor on chemical, but on vital forces, yet they 

 result in all sorts of physical and chemical 



