n % Sfartrg of 



cellent things to teach a boy ; I should be very sorry 

 to omit any of them from any scheme of primary in- 

 tellectual education. The system is excellent, so far as 

 it goes. 



But if I regard it closely, a curious reflection arises. 

 I suppose that, fifteen hundred years ago, the child of 

 any well-to-do Roman citizen was taught just these 

 same things ; reading and writing in his own, and, per- 

 haps, the Greek tongue ; the elements of mathematics ; 

 and the religion, morality, history, and geography cur- 

 rent in his time. Furthermore, I do not think I err^ 

 in affirming, that, if such a Christian Roman boy, who 

 had finished his education, could be transplanted into 

 one of our public schools, and pass through its course of 

 instruction, he would not meet with a single unfamiliar 

 line of thought; amidst all the new facts he would 

 have to learn, not one would suggest a different mode 

 of regarding the universe from that current in his 

 own time. 



And yet surely there is some great difference between 

 the civilization of the fourth century and that of the 

 nineteenth, and still more between the intellectual habits 

 and tone of thought of that day and this \ 



And what has made this difference 1 I answer fear- 

 lessly, The prodigious development of physical science 

 within the last two centuries. 



Modern civilization rests upon physical science ; take 

 away her gifts to our own country, and our position 

 among the leading nations of the world is gone to- 

 morrow ; for it is physical science only, that makes 

 intelligence and moral energy stronger than brute force. / 



The whole of modern thought is steeped in science ; it / 

 has made its way into the works of our best poets, and \ 

 even the mere man of letters, who affects to ignore and 

 despise science, is unconsciously impregnated with her 



