ON THE STUDY OF PHYSICS. 299 



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 

 discourse, may yet serve to illustrate an educational 

 principle. 



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 with- 

 draw 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 single instance did this feeling continue. 

 When utterly disheartened, I have encouraged the 

 boy by the anecdote of Newton, where he attributes 

 the difference between him and other men, mainly 

 to his own patience ; or of Mirabeau, when he ordered 

 his servant, who had stated something to be impos- 

 sible, never again to use that blockhead of a word. 

 Thus cheered, the boy has returned to his task with 

 a smile, which perhaps had something of doubt in it, 

 but which, nevertheless, evinced a resolution to try 

 again. I have seen his eye brighten, and, at length, 

 with a pleasure of which the ecstasy of Archimedes was 



