ON THE STUDY OF PHYSICS. 299 



have been enacted in my own limited practice. There 

 is one mind common to us all; and the true expression 

 of this mind, even in small particulars, will attest itself 

 by the response which it calls forth in the convictions 

 of my hearers. I ask your permission to proceed a 

 little further in this fashion, and to refer to a fact or 

 two in addition to those already cited, which presented 

 themselves to my notice during my brief career as a 

 teacher in the college already alluded to. The facts, 

 though extremely humble, and deviating in some 

 slight degree from the strict subject of the present dis- 

 course, may yet serve to illustrate an educational prin- 

 ciple. 



One of the duties which fell to my share was the 

 instruction of a class in mathematics, and I usually 

 found that Euclid and the ancient geometry generally, 

 when properly and sympathetically addressed to the 

 understanding, formed a most attractive study for 

 youth. But it was my habitual practice to withdraw 

 the boys from the routine of the book, and to appeal 

 to their self-power in the treatment of questions not 

 comprehended in that routine. At first, the change 

 from the beaten track usually excited aversion: the 

 youth felt like a child amid strangers; but in no sin- 

 gle instance did this feeling continue. When utterly 

 disheartened, I have encouraged the boy oy the anec- 

 dote of Newton, where he attributes the difference 

 between him and other men, mainly to his own pa- 

 tience; or of Mirabeau, when he ordered his servant, 

 who had stated something to be impossible, never again 

 to use that blockhead of a word. Thus cheered, the 

 boy has returned to his task with a smile, which per- 

 haps had something of doubt in it, but which, never- 

 theless, evinced a resolution to try again. I have seen 

 his eye brighten, and, at length, with a pleasure of 



