298 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



we call the education of tlie voice. We may choose for 

 our exercise songs new or old, festive or solemn; the edu- 

 cation of the voice being the object aimed at, the songs 

 may be regarded as the means by which this education is 

 accomplished. I think this expresses the state of the case 

 more clearly than if we were to call the songs a branch 

 of education. Regarding also the education of the human 

 mind as the improvement and development of the mental 

 faculties, I shall consider the study of Physics as a means 

 toward the attainment of this end. From this point of 

 view, I degrade Physics into an implement of culture, and 

 this is my deliberate design. 



The term Physics, as made use of in the present Lect- 

 ure, refers to that portion of natural science which lies 

 midway between astronomy and chemistry. The former, 

 indeed, is Physics applied to "masses of enormous 

 weight," while the latter is Physics applied to atoms 

 and molecules. The subjects of Physics proper are there- 

 fore those which lie nearest to human perception: light 

 and heat, color, sound, motion, the loadstone, electrical 

 attractions and repulsions, thunder and lightning, rain, 

 snow, dew, and so forth. Oar senses stand between these 

 phenomena and the reasoning mind. We observe the fact, 

 but are not satisfied with the mere act of observation : th« 

 fact must be accounted for — fitted into its position in the 

 line of cause and effect. Taking our facts from Nature 

 we transfer them to the domain of thought : look at them, 

 compare them, observe their mutual relations and connec- 

 tions, and bringing them ever clearer before the mental 

 eye, finally alight upon the cause which unites them. 

 This is the last act of the mind, in this centripetal direc- 

 tion — in its progress from the multiplicity of facts to the 



