TECHNICAL FAULTS. 5 



one, or as claiming merit to myself. It detracts 

 nothing from the merit of the inventors of steam- 

 engines that those of the early construction could not 

 work, without the presence of a boy to open and shut 

 the steam valves; and no great mechanical merit 

 attaches to the little rogue who, in order to escape this 

 monotonous labour and enjoy his pleasure, so tied the 

 valves with strings that they were opened and shut 

 by the engines themselves. Mine is the humble 

 ambition of this boy : I would wish the machine of 

 instruction to be made a little more self-acting, so 

 that we may be spared the monotonous routine of 

 technicalities, and be thereby left at liberty to use 

 and enjoy that which we learn. When I say " tech- 

 nicalities," I allude to systems and supplemental 

 notions which have no realities answering to them, 

 and not to mere words. " Words," says the Malms- 

 bury philosopher, " are the money of fools, but the 

 counters of wise men;" and if the subject is rightly 

 brought forward, the words are but a secondary con- 

 sideration. What is called the technical word, and 

 often on that account objected to, is very often the 

 best; because the popular word has often many 

 meanings, some of which are changing every day. 



Having entered this caveat against being misun- 

 derstood, which is the more necessary that I must 

 begin my proof with my own evidence, I shall now 

 point out some of the steps which led me to the con- 

 clusion above stated: In early life, my access to 

 what are usually called elementary books was very 

 limited ; but my facilities for observing natural 

 objects and phenomena, and some of the productions 

 and operations of art, were correspondingly great. 

 I found the acquiring of as much (boyish) know- 

 ledge of these, as, in so far, enabled me to under- 

 B 2 



