126 SELECTED ESS A YS FROM LA Y SERMONS 



In all these respects, science differs from other educa- 

 tional discipline, and prepares the scholar for common life. 

 What have we to do in every-day life? Most of the busi- 

 ness which demands our attention is matter of fact, which 

 needs, in the first place, to be accurately observed or appre- 

 hended; in the second, to be interpreted by inductive and 

 deductive reasonings, which are altogether similar in their 

 nature to those employed in science. In the one case, as in 

 the other, whatever is taken for granted is so taken at one's 

 own peril; fact and reason are the ultimate arbiters, and pa- 

 tience and honesty are the great helpers out of difficulty. 



But if scientific training is to yield its most emxinent 

 results, it must, I repeat, be made practical. That is to say, 

 in explaining to a child the general phenomena of Nature 

 you must, as far as possible, give reality to your teaching 

 by object-lessons; in teaching him botany, he must handle 

 the plants and dissect the flowers for himself; in teaching him 

 physics and chemistry, you must not be solicitous to fill him 

 with information, but you must be careful that what he 

 learns he knows of his own knowledge. Don't be satis- 

 fied with telling him that a magnet attracts iron. Let him 

 see that it does; let him feel the pull of the one upon the 

 other for himself. And, especially, tell him that it is his 

 duty to doubt until he is compelled, by the absolute author- 

 ity of Nature, to believe that which is written in books. 

 Pursue this discipline carefully and conscientiously, and you 

 may make sure that, however scanty may be the measure 

 of information which you have poured into the boy's mind, 

 you have created an intellectual habit of priceless value in 

 practical life. 



One is constantly asked, When should this scientific edu- 

 cation be commenced ? I should say with the dawn of intel- 

 ligence. As I have already said, a child seeks for informa- 



