THE SCHOOLS OF HAZELWOOD AND BRUCE CASTLE. 1 ; 



on which this department has been introduced into the 

 Schools, have now been accomplished : there remain to be 

 fulfilled, to offer some observations and facts indicating the 

 intrinsic importance of the Knowledge of Nature or in other 

 words, of the Physical Sciences, as forming a department of 

 General Education ; to describe what has already been done 

 in the fulfillment of the Conductors' designs in this respect, 

 and to explain the means and the methods which have been 

 adopted for its performance. 



There are several points of view, under which we may con- 

 sider the intrinsic utility of the Knowledge of Nature. We 

 may regard it as a means of expanding the intellectual facul- 

 ties in general, in subservience to Theology ; and in protec- 

 tion of the mind from that kind of superstition which is con- 

 sequent on ignorance of the laws of nature. It may be viewed 

 in its immediate relations to the arts and to manufactures. 

 We may consider its importance in the conduct of the ordi- 

 nary affairs of life, whether as affecting the happiness or com- 

 fort of individuals, or that of society at large. The value of 

 uniting the Physical with the Mathematical Sciences may be 

 enforced ; and finally, we may urge some arguments, showing, 

 not merely the general utility of combining a knowledge of 

 Nature with the pursuits of Classical and General Literature, 

 but also the advantages specifically derivable from it, in the 

 most profound investigations of the history, the languages, 

 and the arts of civilized Antiquity. 



It is unnecessary to enter at much length into the utility of 

 the Knowledge of Nature as a means of expanding the intel- 

 lectual faculties in general, since this is now generally ac- 

 knowledged. By a kind of common consent, grounded in 

 the Divine Command, " Replenish the earth and subdue it ; 

 and have dominion over every living thing that moveth upon 

 the earth ;" and confirmed, as it would seem, by a common 

 perception of the truth involved in the epithet, Man is called 

 " the Lord of the Creation." And it would be improper, on 

 the present occasion, were I to refrain from contributing my 

 testimony to the justice of this confirmation, from all that I 

 have been able to acquire of Natural History. The entire 

 amount of knowledge hitherto attained by philosophers, of the 

 organization, mutual relations, and reciprocal dependence on 

 each other, of all created things, in each of the three king- 

 doms of nature, appears to me to concentre in this testimony : 

 That inorganic bodies in general were created to serve as 

 bases for the structure as substrata in general for the exist- 

 ence of organized beings the Mineral for the sake of the 

 Vegetable and Animal kingdoms and these, indeed the 



