80 COURSE OF INSTRUCTION IN THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES 



Geology will be found in the Transactions of the Geological 

 Society of London ; others in the Transactions of the Philo- 

 sophical Society of Cambridge. 



Nor is the success of Geological Science in the hands of 

 those who have received what is sometimes termed, per excel- 

 lentiam, "a regular education," without many parallels in other 

 branches of physical knowledge; and the works of the Rev. 

 W. Kirby, Mr. W. S. Macleay, and Mr. Vigors, on Ento- 

 mology, Ornithology, and the Philosophy of Zoology in all its 

 departments, may be cited as proofs of the fact. 



The proposed consideration of the intrinsic utility of the 

 Knowledge of Nature, as conveyed by the Physical Sciences, 

 is now complete. It remains for me briefly to describe what 

 has been attempted, in the introduction of those sciences into 

 the general system of Education pursued in the Schools of 

 Hazel wood and Bruce Castle. The tendency of the preced- 

 ing arguments and illustrations is to show the utility of some 

 degree of scientific knowledge to persons of every class, and 

 of every destination in life. In accordance with this truth, the 

 department of " Physical Science ", in the Schools, has been 

 extended more or less to all the pupils. Many of these are 

 destined by their friends for commercial occupations, others 

 for professions, and some will become the possessors of here- 

 ditary affluence. Many, on quitting the Schools, will have 

 finished their education ; others will then enter the Univer- 

 sities. Such departments of science therefore have been select- 

 ed for instruction, as appeared likely to be most generally 

 useful, and to receive, in the greatest degree, the approbation 

 of the parents or friends of the pupils, and that of the public 

 at large. The principal aim has been, in teaching these sub- 

 jects, to exercise the understanding in those forms of rational 

 analysis and induction which are appropriate to the Physical 

 Sciences, to excite an interest in the pursuits of science in 

 general, and to communicate important fundamental truths. 

 The amount of instruction in any of the higher branches of 

 knowledge which can be imparted at School, being compara- 

 tively inconsiderable, it became the more necessary to render 

 that amount as efficient as possible, by dwelling on the more 

 prominent features only of each branch of knowledge entered 

 upon. Some pupils, whose time was occupied in immediate pre- 

 paration for entering the Universities, or in other exercises, 

 agreeably to the instructions of their friends, could take but 

 little part in Physical Science. Others however, some of 

 whom are designed for the Medical profession, have devoted 

 considerable time and attention to this department. 



