WITH THE PURSUITS OF CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 61 



the writings of the ancients, the scholastic study of certain 

 authors, in each language, is indispensable; as a means of 

 acquiring them. In these authors occur many allusions to the 

 prevalent mythology of their times, to historical events, and 

 to the manners and customs of their contemporaries, which 

 have for ages past ceased to be intelligible to the unassisted 

 reader. To remove this obstacle to their comprehension and 

 profitable perusal, much Apparatus, to use an expression 

 equally technical in scientific and in philological research, 

 has been devised and employed. Dictionaries and other works 

 have been composed for the purpose of explaining these al- 

 lusions ; and specific instruction in the mythology and reli- 

 gious ordinances, the history and the customs, of the more 

 celebrated nations of antiquity, is given, in the form either of 

 Lectures or in that of Class- Lessons, in almost every Seminary 

 of Education. 



But even in the most familiar and popular works of Classi- 

 cal Antiquity used as School-Books, many other allusions are 

 contained, to the objects of nature, and the opinions of the 

 ancients respecting them. To explain these, or to impart to the 

 pupils the means of explaining them for themselves, or for 

 each other, in some degree, would certainly augment their in- 

 terest in the study ; and by enabling them to acquire more pre- 

 cise ideas of the meaning of many expressions employed by the 

 respective authors, itwould contribute to fix the immediate sub- 

 jects of study more permanently in the mind. During my re- 

 sidence at Hazelwood, as Teacher of the Physical Sciences, 

 many inquiries on such subjects have been addressed to me, 

 either by pupils devoting much of their attention to Classical 

 studies, or by teachers who had received them from such pupils 

 in classes taught by them ; and I cannot but infer from this 

 circumstance, among others, that many advantages would 

 arise from the union of Classical pursuits with a due degree 

 of attention to the objects of Scientific research. 



At the present aera, however, in the progress of universal 

 knowledge, there exists a still more direct and more impor- 

 tant reason for the union of Natural Science with Classical 

 Literature. For many years past the investigations of Classi- 

 cal criticism, and the researches of Physical science, have been 

 followed, separately, by individuals as well as by Learned So- 

 cieties, with great ardour, and indefatigable industry; the age 

 has been equally distinguished by Heyne, by Person, and by 

 Schneider, by Cuvier and by Davy. The result of these 

 parallel advances in Literature and Science has been, a re- 

 sult, however, which has not perhaps been so publicly and 

 explicitly announced as its importance demands, that the 



