ON THE IMAGINATION 93 



it may be, adding another name to the most select category 

 of the "immortals." 



The origin of the word is lost in antiquity, but 

 its use has been universally indulged in by the human 

 family, and it has been responsible for the origin of every 

 religious system and the evolution of all mythologies, 

 thus leaving its impress so distinctly and indelibly as 

 to be " read of all men," and so as to afford a clear 

 insight into the history, the mental and moral character, 

 and the form of civilisation of its producers. 



Imagination, consequently, covers a wide expanse of 

 what constitutes the sum of human knowledge, and when 

 entirely eliminated, if that were possible, from that sum, 

 it would be found that what remained had shrunk into 

 proportions quite possible of acquirement by the candidates 

 for university honours and participators in competitive 

 examinations for the public services. 



This mass of knowledge claimable by imagination, and 

 still incorporated with the material of a liberal education, 

 calls purely for recognition on its own behalf as a non- 

 negligible quantity, and, therefore, for a special recognition 

 on the part of all engaged in the responsible task of 

 regulating and imparting knowledge, and shaping that 

 education. A distinct value, therefore, we think, attaches to 

 the separation of subjects of knowledge into their proper 

 categories, to suit the requirements of the various 

 intellects constituting the community of student-scholars. 



