;i 



11 



2. Knowledge as members of society. The second division under the'general 

 uestion, What studies should be taught? relates to the right discharge of the 

 uties of the individual as a member of the community. These duties place man 

 in two connexions in social intercourse, with those immediately around him ; 

 and in the discharge of the duties of citizenship, to the political institutions of 

 his country. But they need not be considered separately, for the acquirements 

 that fit him for the one are demanded by the other. He must have general 

 knowledge, to exercise influence in society, and political information, to act well 

 his part as a citizen ; and the agencies for using these are, good conversational 

 qualities, and readiness and elegance as a writer and speaker. Of these 

 agencies for I shall speak of them first' is a knowledge of language 



In advocating the study of, at least, the Latin in the. industrial universities, I 

 cannot but regret to differ from Mr. Herbert Spencer, whose opinions on educa- 

 tion should have an unlimited sway. Concurring with him in all that he has 

 written on the necessity of the study of science, in his admirable work on edu- 

 cation, yet I cannot approve of the disparagement of the languages contained 

 in the latter portion of the following paragraph : 



"Paraphrasing an eastern fable, we may say that in the family of knowl- 

 edges, Science is the household drudge, who in obscurity hides unrecognized 

 perfections. To her has been committed all the work ; by her skill, intelligence, 

 and devotion have all the conveniences and gratifications been obtained ; and, 

 while ceaselessly occupied ministering to the rest, she has been kept in the 

 background, that her haughty sisters might flaunt their fripperies in the eyes of 

 the world. The parallel holds yet further. For we are fast coming to the 

 denouement when the positions will be changed, and while these haughty sisters 

 sink into merited neglect, science, proclaimed as highest alike in worth and 

 beauty, will reign supreme." 



What is meant by the term "haughty sisters" is the languages and mathe- 

 matics, and the prediction that they " will sink into merited neglect " is a con- 

 demnation of their utility. The figure he uses is a just one: they are sisters of 

 a common household, and the unjust degradation of one is no cause for her 

 exaltation by the debasement of the rest. They are sisters, and should live in 

 sisterly equality and affection, each fulfilling the purposes of her existence. 



" Words are things." And in this country especially, where thought clothed 

 in words acts on mind, they are things of great significance. It was a few 

 written words of Mr. Jefferson that created the doctrine of State rights, claim- 

 ing supremacy for a State and its right of nullification. It was words, printed 

 and spoken, that gave these other words a power to create this rebellion. 

 Words are a deadly poison or a most nutritious food, according as they are- 

 compounded and administered. Mr. Jefferson made them this poison; the 

 Apostles, by them, offered eternal life. It needs the aid of language to entice to 

 the study of science. Words may repulsively ask to this study, or invitingly 

 draw to it. They can embellish every fact and thought. To say, then, that 

 an agency so powerful for good or evil should sink into merited' neglect is an 

 unjust opinion, the incorrectness of which is shown by Mr. Spencer's use of 

 words in every page of his masterly writings. But it is an opinion induced by 

 that repellant antagonism, which, like the pendulum, swings from one extreme 

 to its opposite. It is an instance of that " rhythmical tendency," as Mr. Spen- 

 cer terms it, that carries us from "one absurd extreme to the opposite one" a 

 reaction, " carried as reactions usually are, somewhat too far." This an- 

 tagonism leads to one-ideaism. To a certain extent, this over-valuing one sub- 

 ject by underrating all others, gives energy in our advocacy of it ; but, never- 

 theless, it is a vice, often tending to insanity in zeal, as it frequently does to 

 aberration of mind, as seen in the monomaniac. The moral of the story of the 

 Knight of La Mancha should not be forgotten. In the vindication of the 

 utility of the sciences, many of their advocates have been carried beyond a 



